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The Chronicle of
Theophanes Confessor

Byzantine and Near Eastern History
AD 284-813

Translated with Introduction and Commentary by
CYRIL MANGO and ROGER SCOTT
with the assistance of Geoffrey Greatrex

CLARENDON PRESS + OXFORD
1997

Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6DP

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Data available

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
The chronicle of Theophanes Confessor : Byzantine and Near Eastern
history, A.D. 284-813 / translated with introduction and commentary
by Cyril Mango and Roger Scott with the assistance of Geoffrey Greatrex

Includes bibliographical references and index.
1 Byzantme Empire—History—Isaurian dynasty. 717-81.
I. Mango, CyrilA. II. Scott, Roger. III. Greatrex, Geoffrey.
IV. Title
DF581.T4813 1997 949.5' 02—dcio 96-18714
ISBN __ 0-19-822568-7

13879 10 8642
Typeset by Hope Services (Abingdon) Ltd.

Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by
Bookcraft (Bath) LtdMidsomer Norton

Preface

The Chronicle that goes under the name of Theophanes Confessor
(d. 818) is a major source for the history not only of the East Roman
or Byzantine Empire, but also for that of the Near East after the Arab
conquest. That is not to say that its value is uniform for the entire
period it covers, namely from AD 284/5 to 813. Roughly its first half
in terms of pages of text, from AD 284/5 t° 602, is based on sources
that are, by and large, available to us in one form or another,
although occasionally Theophanes does yield items of information
that cannot be found elsewhere. From AD 602 to 813, however,
Theophanes is for us a primary source in the sense that the writings
he utilized have been almost entirely lost.

The purpose of our work was to provide a faithful translation of
Theophanes as edited by C. de Boor (1883) with such annotation as
would facilitate its use by historians. To that end we have added a
double apparatus, namely: (i) An apparatus fontium indicating,
whenever possible, the source used by Theophanes or, if such a
source has not survived, parallel passages in other texts that are
independent of Theophanes (i.e. are not derived from him); (ii) A set
of brief explanatory notes. It goes without saying that, given enough
time and space, the latter could have been expanded tenfold, but it
was not our aim to provide an exhaustive commentary, which would
have been almost tantamount to writing a history of the Byzantine
Empire to AD 813. We can only hope that, armed with our text, the
historian will not only know what Theophanes says, but will also be
in a position to evaluate the worth of his statements.

Our work has been more than fifteen years in the making, partly
because of other commitments borne by the two authors, partly
because of the difficulty of conducting a collaboration across two
oceans. For this delay we have paid the penalty of having been anti-
cipated by two partial translations into English, the first by
H. Turtledove, with elementary annotation, covering the period
602-813,’ the second by A. R. Santoro, without any notes, confined
to 717-803.” Both are highly inaccurate.

The past fifteen years have also seen a steady flow of publications
devoted to various aspects of the Chronicle or to particular periods
for which it is an important source. We should name in the first

' The Chronicle of Theophanes (Philadelphia, 1982).
* Theophanes, Chionogiaphia (Gorham, Me., 1982).

Preface

place the exhaustive commentary on the years 715-813 by Ilse
Rochow, omitting, however, all items of purely Near Eastern inter-
est. Two works by I. S. Cicurov also deserve mention. The first,
entitled Byzantine Historical Writings,* consists of selected
passages of Theophanes and the Breviarium of the Patriarch
Nikephoros accompanied by a Russian translation and explanatory
notes. The second, The Place of the Chronographia of Theophanes
in the Early Byzantine Historiographic Tradition,*> attempts to
analyse the Chronicle as a work of literature with special reference
to the author's 'self-awareness’, his attitude to prevailing conven-
tions of historical writing, and the ideal image of the emperor. We
cannot enter here into a discussion of the views expressed by the
Russian scholar, although we may be permitted to say that the
approach he has chosen appears to us inappropriate to a work that is
avowedly compilatory and non-literary. A stream of publications by
Professor Paul Speck of Berlin, concerned directly or indirectly with
Theophanes and by now amounting to several thousand pages, has
put us in a more difficult position. Professor Speck offers many inci-
sive observations, but these are intermingled with so much hypo-
thetical speculation that we decided, after some hesitation, to make
only occasional reference to his works. We have also omitted for rea-
sons of space much other bibliography which did not appear to us to
make any original contribution.

The division of our labour has been as follows: R.S. undertook to
translate and annotate roughly the first half of the Chronicle @M
5777-6094), while C.M. is responsible for AM 6095-6305 and for
Theophanes' 'Preface’. The Introduction is by C.M. except for the
chronology of the Persian kings (IH.ai), the discussion of sources
relevant to the first half of the text (IV. 2-9 and part of 14) and the
section entitled 'Treatment of Sources’. The List of Abbreviations,
Glossary and Index have been compiled by Dr Geoffrey Greatrex, to
whom we are also greatly indebted for editing our manuscript for the
press.

C.M. would also like to thank Dr J. D. Howard-Johnston for advice
on the events of the reign of the emperor Herakleios, Drs R. Hoyland
and L. J. Conrad on matters relating to the Arabs, and, as always, his
wife.

R.S. would like to thank Oliver Nicholson in particular and also
Anthony Bryer, Brian Croke, Simon Franklin, Martine Henry,

3 Byzanz im 8. Jahihundett in dei Sicht des Theophanes (Berlin, 1991).

* Vizantijskie istoiiceskie socinenija (Moscow, 1980).

> Mesto 'Chronografii' Feofana v lannevizantijskoj istoriograficeskoj tradicii in
the series DievnejSie gosudazstva na tenitorii SSSR for 1981 (pub. Moscow, 1983].

Preface

Elizabeth Jeffreys, Margaret Mullett, and Michael Whitby. He is also
very grateful for facilities made available to him as an honorary
Research Fellow at the Centre for Byzantine Studies at the
University of Birmingham and as a Fellow of Dumbarton Oaks,

Washington.

Contents

Conventions Adopted
Abbreviations

Introduction

Preface to Chronographia
Genealogy
Chronographia

Glossary
General Index

Index of Greek Words

xi
xiii

xliii

689
695
744

Conventions Adopted in
the Present Publication

1. Text

Words that have been added to the English translation for the sake
of clarity are placed in square brackets ([. . .]).

Words supplied by de Boor, mostly from the Latin translation by
Anastasius, are in angle brackets ((. . .)).

Words or passages rejected by de Boor are marked". . .’.

Lacunae in the text are marked by an asterisk (*).

De Boor's pagination is indicated in the margin.

Passages that we consider to have been derived from Theophanes'
Oriental source (on which see Introduction, IV.13) are printed in
Avenir roman.

2. Chronological Rubrics

On the form of the rubrics, as they are given in the manuscripts and
in de Boor's edition, see Introduction, III.

i. Full Rubrics:

We have used the abbreviation AM instead of 'Year of the World’ and
added in square brackets the corresponding AD date. Both are given
in bold type. It should be understood that the AD date is the one the-
oretically equivalent to the AM according to the system of compu-
tation used by Theophanes and need not be the correct date for the
events described.

ii. Abbreviated Rubrics:
We have inserted: (a) The AM and AD dates in square brackets; (€-] The
name of the ruler and bishop before the numeral, thus: 'Diocletian,
and year’. Strictly speaking, the name ought to have been also placed
in square brackets, but that would have created such a plethora of
brackets that we have taken the liberty of omitting them.
Whenever a newruler or bishop is appointed, he is introduced in the
manuscripts by the following formula (taking AM 5786 as an example):

Marcellinus, bishop of Rome, 2 years
Peter the Martyr, bishop of Alexandria, 1 years,

followed by the usual string of numerals, namely 10 (10th year of
Diocletian), 6 (6th year of Ouarraches), 1 (1st year of Marcellinus), 22

Conventions Adopted in the Present Publication

(22nd year of Hymenaios), 1 (ist year of Peter the Martyr), n (nth
year of Tyrannos).

For the sake of greater clarity we have combined the name and
length of tenure of the new incumbent with the ordinal number of
the year that is applicable to him, instead of disjoining them as the
manuscripts do.

3. Proper Names, Titles, and Technical Terms

Without aiming at complete consistency, which would have been
impossible to achieve without introducing a great many bizarre
forms, we have adopted for proper names the following guidelines:

Whenever a familiar English equivalent exists, that has been used
(e.g. Diocletian, George, John, Justinian, Marcian, etc.).

Less familiar Greek as well as foreign names have been transliter-
ated (/? = b, K=k, v=y, ai = ai, El = ei, 01 = oi, ov = ou). In the case of
foreign names their ‘correct’ or accepted form is given in the Index.

Less familiar names of Latin derivation are given in Latin spelling
(thus Germanus rather than Germanos).

The same principles have been applied to titles and technical
terms. Except such as are commonly used in an Anglicized form (eg.
notary, patrician, tribune), those of Latin origin are given in Latin
spelling (eg. a secretis, but protoasekretis, this being a bastard
Greek formation; candidatus, nobilissimus, etc.), while those of
Greek origin are transliterated.

In a few cases Theophanes uses two different forms to designate
the same person, eg. Sarbarazas and Sarbaros = Sahrvaraz. We have
retained both so as not to disguise the author's inconsistency.

The Greek ephitet 'the great’ applied to a person may mean just
that, or it may mean 'the elder’ or 'the first’. For emperors we have
translated it as 'the elder’ apart from Constantine I and on two occa-
sions for Theodosios I (AM 5998, 6232). For others we have translated
it as 'the Great’.

4. Annotation
This takes a double form:

Notes designated by an arabic numeral are explanatory.

Those designated by a lower case letter constitute the apparatus
fontium. Whenever it has been possible to delimit a passage that has
either been borrowed from a known source or exists in a comparable
form in another text, the passage in question has been placed between
vertical lines (II) and followed by the reference *, > © etc. The indica-
tion 'Cf.' refers to parallel passages. Derivative parallels of later date
have not been quoted unless they have some independent value.

xii

Abbreviations

i. Periodicals, reference books, short abbreviations

AASS
ABAW

ABSA

ACO

AH
AIPHOS

AJAH
AnatSt
AnBoll
BAR
BCH

BHG

BIRC

BMGS
BNJ

BS1
BSOAS

Byz
ByzF
BZ

dB
cc
CFHB

Acta Sanctorum
Abhandlungen der Bayerischen
Akademie der Wissenschaften
Annual of the British School at
Athens
Acta Conciliorum Oecumenicorum,
ed. E. Schwartz and J. Straub (Berlin,
1914-83)
Anno Graecorum (i.e. of the Seleucid
era, from 1 Oct. 312 BO
Anno Hegirae (ie. of the Islamic era)
Annuaire de l'Institut de Philologie et
d'Histoire Orientales et Slaves
American Journal of Ancient History
Anatolian Studies
Analecta Bollandiana

British Archaeological Reports
Bulletin de Correspondance Helle-
nique
Bibliotheca Hagiographica _ Graeca,
3rd edn., ed. F. Halkin, Subsidia
Hagiographica, 8a (Brussels, 1957)
Bulletin de_ I'Institut russe de
Constantinople (= IRAIK)
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies
Byzan tinisch-n eugriechische
Jahrbiicher

Byzantinoslavica
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and
African Studies

Byzantion
Byzantinische Forschungen
Byzantinische Zeitschrift

C. de Boor
Corpus Christianorum
Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae

xii

Abbreviations

CHEIA The Cambridge History of Early Inner
Asia, ed. D. Sinor (Cambridge, 1990)

CMH The Cambridge Medieval History

CQ Classical Quarterly

CR Classical Review

CSCO Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum
Orientalium

CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum
Latinorum

CSHB Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzan-
tinae

DChAE A e\TL ov rrjs_ XpiariavikKrjs ApxaioA-
oyiKrjs Eratpetas

DHGE Dictionnaire d'histoire et de geogra-
phie ecclesiastiques

DOP Dumbarton Oaks Papers

DO Seals Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at

Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg
Museum of Art, ed. J. Nesbitt and N.
Oikonomides (Washington, D C, 19 91- )

DSp Dictionnaire de spiritualite ascetique
et mystique

DTC Dictionnaire de theologie catholique

EEBZ 'ETreTTjpls_ trjs EVcupetay Bvavrivcby
2TTOV8O)V

EHR English Historical Review

EF Encyclopaedia of Islam, ed. M. T.

Houtsma et al, 4 vols. (Leiden and
London, 1913-34)

EI* Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edn., ed.
H. A. R. Gibb et al. (Leiden and
London, ig6o0- )

EO Echos. d'Orient

FCH R.C. Blockley, The Fragmentary
Classicising Historians of the Later
Roman Empire, 2 vols. (Liverpool,
1981-3)

FHG Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum,
vol. iv, ed. C. Miiller (Paris, 1851), vol.
v, ed. C. Miiller (Paris, 1870)

GRBS Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies
HSCP Harvard Studies in Classical
Philology

xiv

Abbreviations

HTR Harvard Theological Review

HUS Harvard Ukrainian Studies

IEJ Israel Exploration Journal

ind. Indiction

IRAIK Izvestija_ = Russkogo _Archeologice-
skogo Instituta v Konstantinopole

JA Journal Asiatique

JAC Jahrbuch fiir Antike und Christen-
tum

JDAI Jahrbuch des deutschen archaologis-
chen Instituts

JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies

JOB Jahrbuch der osterreichischen Byzan-
tinistik

JOBG Jahrbuch der osterreichischen Byzan-
tinischen Gesellschaft

JOR Jewish Quarterly Review

JRGS Journal of the Royal Geographical
Society

JRS Journal of Roman Studies

JSav Journal des Savants

JTS Journal of Theological Studies

KE<PU X) €v KajvaTavTivovTToXei 'EXXrjvikKOS
<Pi\o\oyu<ds | UvAAoyos

LSJ H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, rev. H. S.

Jones and R. McKenzie, A
Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford, 1968)

MBM Miscellanea Byzantina Monacensia

MGH AA Monumenta Germaniae Historica,
Auctores Antiquissimi

MGH SS Monumenta Germaniae Historica,
Scriptores

OCP Orientalia Christiana Periodica

ODB Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, ed.
A. Kazhdan (Oxford, 1991)

OrChr Oriens Christianus

PG Patrologia Graeca

PL Patrologia Latina

PLRE Prosopography of the Later Roman

Empire, edj. Martindale et al. 3 vols.
(Cambridge, 1971-92)

PO Patrologia Orientalis

PS Patrologia Syriaca

RAC

REA
REAim
REB

REG
RendLincei

RevNum
RAM
RIDA

ROC
RSBN

SRM

StT

Subs. hag.
TAPA

TIB
T™

TTH
TU

VizViem
Ycs
ZDMG
ZPE
ZRVI

2. Ancient Works
Acta Anastasii Persae

Abbreviations

Reallexikon fur Antike und Christen-
tum (Stuttgart, 1950- |

Paulys Realencyclopadie der classis-
chen Altertumswissenschaft (Stutt-
gart, 1894-)

Revue des Etudes Anciennes

Revue des Etudes Armeniennes
Revue des Etudes Byzantines

Revue des Etudes Grecques
Rendiconti delTAccademia Nazionale
dei Lincei

Revue Numismatique

Rheinisches Museum fur Philologie
Revue internationale des droits de
l'antiquite

Revue de l'Orient Chretien

Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Neoel-
lenici

Scriptores Rerum Merowingicarum
Studi e Testi

Subsidia Hagiographica

Transactions and Proceedings of the
American Philological Association
Tabula Imperii Byzantini

Travaux et Memoires, Centre de
Recherche d'Histoire et de Civilisa-
tion byzantines

Translated Texts for Historians

Texte und Untersuchungen zur
Geschichte der altchristlichen Litera-
tur (Leipzig and Berlin, 1882- )
Vizantijskiz Vremennik

Yale Classical Studies

Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgen-
landischen Gesellschaft

Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und
Epigraphik
Zbornik radova
Instituta

Vizantoloskog

Saint Anastase le Perse, vol. i, ed. B.
Flusin (Paris, 1994)

Xvl1

Actes de Lavra
Agapios
Agath.

Agnellus

Alex. Mon.

Ambrose, De ob. Val.

Amm. Marc.

Anast.

Anast. Sin. Sermo III

Ann. Rav.

Anna Comnena

Anon. Cusp.
Anon. Periplus

Anon. Val.

Abbreviations

Actes de Lavra, edd. P. Lemerle, et al.,
4 vols (Paris, 1970-82)

Agapios, Kitab al-'Unvan, ed. and tr.
A. A. Vasiliev, PO 8 (1912)

Agathias, Historiae, ed. R. Keydell,
CFHB (Berlin, 1967)

Agnellus, Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae
Ravennatis, ed. O. Holder-Egger,
MGH Scr. rer. Lang. 263-391
Alexander Monachus, De venerandae
crucis inventione, PG 87/3: 4015 ff.
Ambrose, De _ obitu Valentiniani
Iunioris in Sancti Ambrosii Opera,
vol. vii, ed. O. Faller (Vienna, 1955),
CSEL 73, 32.7-67

Ammianus Marcellinus, Rerum ges-
tarum libri quae supersunt, ed. and tr.
J. C. Rolfe (London, 1935-9)
Anastasius Bibliothecarius, Chrono-
graphia Tripartita, ed. C. de Boor in
Theophanes, vol. ii

Anastasius Sinaita, Sermones duo in
constitutionem hominis secundum
imaginem dei, ed. K. H. Uthemann,
CC ser. gr. 12 (Turnhout and Lou vain,
1985)

Annals of Ravenna, ed. W. Koehler in
Medieval Studies in memory of A.
Kingsley Porter, vol. 1 (Cambridge,
Mass., 1939), 125-38, and in Studi
Romagnoli, 3 (1952), 1-17

Anna Comnena, Alexiad, ed. and tr.
B. Leib, 3 vols. (Paris, 1937-45)

See Past. Vind. Prior.

Anon. Periplus Ponti Euxini, ed. C.
Miiller, Geographi graeci minores, i
(Paris, 1855), 402-3 3 plus (middle part)
PHG v. 174-87; ed. Baschmakoff,
Synthese; ed. A. Diller, The Tradition
of the Minor Greek Geographers
(Lancaster, Pa., 1952), 118-38
Excerpta Valesiana, ed. J. Moreau and
V. Velkov (Leipzig, 1968); tr. J. C.

xvii

Abbreviations

Rolfe in vol. iii of Ammianus
Marcellinus (above)

Anth. Gr. Anthologia Graeca, ed. H. Beckby
(Munich, 1957-8); books i-xv=
Anthologia Palatina; book xvi=
Anthologia (or Appendix) Planudea

Auct. Prosp. Auctarium Prosperi Hauniensis, ed.
Th. Mommsen, Chronica Minora,
MGH AA ix (Berlin, 1892)

Aur. Vict Caes. Aurelius Victor, Liber de Caesaribus,
ed. F. Pichlmayr (Leipzig, 1911); tr.
H. W. Bird, The Liber de Caesaribus
of Sextus Aurelius Victor, TTH
(Liverpool, 1994)

Aur. Vict. Epit. Caes. Aurelius Victor, Epitome de Caesar-
ibus, ed. F. Pichlmayr (Leipzig, 1911)

Baladhuri, Brooks See Brooks, 'Abbasids', below

Cer. Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De cer-

imoniis aulae byzantinae, ed. J. J.
Reiske, CSHB (Bonn, 1829); partial
French tr., 2 vols., A. Vogt (Paris,
1935-40)

Chr. 724 Chronicon miscellaneum ad AD J24
pertinens (CSCO Scr. Syr. 3rd_ ser.
4/2), tr. J. B. Chabot (Paris, 1904); par-
tial tr. in Palmer, The Seventh
Century in the West-Syrian
Chronicles (Liverpool, 1993), 14-23

Chr. 81 "La Chronique byzantine de I'an 811',
ed. I. Dujcev, TM 1 (1965), 205-54;
repr. in I. Dujcev, Medioeveo bizan-
tino-slavo, ii (Rome, 1968), 425-89

Chr. 813 Fragmenta chronici anonymi auc-
toris ad AD 8rj pertinentia (CSCO
Scr. Syr. 3rd ser. 4), tr. E. W. Brooks
(Louvain, 1905). Also with English tr.
by Brooks, ZDMG 54 (1900), 195-230

Chr. 819 Chronicon anonymum ad AD 819, ed.
J. B. Chabot along with Chr. 1234,
vol. i

Chr. 846 Chronicon ad AD 846 pertinens

(CSCO Scr. Syr. 3rd ser. 4/2), tr. J. B.
Chabot (Louvain, 1904)

XVili

Chr. 1234

Chi. Alt.

Chr. Edess.

Chr. Maron.

Chr. Seert

Chron. Min.

Chron. Pasch.

cod. Paris, gr.1710

Codex Angelicas

Coll. Avell.

Cons. Const.

Abbreviations

Chronicon anonymum ad AD 1234
pertinens, vol. i (CSCO Scr. Syr. 3rd
ser. 14), tr. J. B. Chabot (Louvain,
1937); vol. ii, tr. A. Abouna, ibid., vol.
154 (Louvain, 1974)

Chronicon Altinate et Gradense, ed.
R. Cessi, Fontiperla storia d'Italia, 73
(Rome, 1933)

Chronicon Edessenum, tr. I. Guidi
(CSCO Scr. Syr. 3rd ser. 4/11 (Paris,
1903); also in Untersuchungen iiber
die Edessenische Chronik, ed. and tr.
L. Hallier (Leipzig, 1892)

Chronicon Maroniticum (CSCO Scr.
Syr. 3rd ser. 4), ed. E. W. Brooks, tr.
J.-B. Chabot (Louvain, 1904)
Chronicle of Seert ( = Histoire nestori-
enne inedite), ed. A. Scher, tr. l'abbe
Pierre, PO 4 (1908), 5 (1910), 7 (1911),
and 13(1919)

Chronica Minora, ed. Th. Mommsen,
MGH AA ix, xi, and xiii (Berlin,
1892-8)

Chronicon Paschale, ed. L. Dindorf,
CSHB (Bonn, 1832); tr. M. and
M. Whitby, Chronicon Paschale AD
284-632, TTH (Liverpool, 1989)
Codex Justinianus, ed. P. Krueger
(nth edn., Berlin, 1954)

Codex Parisinus Graecus 1710, in C.
de Boor, Theophanis Chronographia,
vol. ii (Leipzig, 1905), 3770-1

‘Die Vita Constantini des Codex
Angelicus 22', ed. H.-G. Opitz, Byz 9
(1934), 535-93

Collectio Avellana: epistulae impera-
torum, pontificum, aliorum, AD
367-553/ “i- O. Guenther, CSEL 35
(Vienna, 1895-8)

Consularia Constantinopolitana, ed.
R. W. Burgess in The Chronicle of
Hydatius and the Consularia
Constantinopolitana (Oxford, 1993),

xix

Const. Porph. De Them.

Coripp. Joh.

Coripp. lust.

Cramer, Eccl. Hist.

CTh

Cyr. Scyth.

Cyr. Scyth. V. Euth.
Cyr. Scyth. V. Sab.
DAI

Damascius, V. Isid.

De insid.

Abbreviations

215-45; also Th. Mommsen, MGH
AA ix (Berlin, 1892)

A. Pertusi, Constantino Porfirogenito
De Thematibus, StT 160 (Vatican
City, 1952)

Corippus, Iohannidos seu de bellis
Libycis Libii VII, ed. J. Diggle and F.
R. D. Goodyear (Cambridge, 1970);
also ed. J. Partsch, MGH AA iii
(Berlin, 1897)

Corippus, In Laudem Iustini Augusti
minoris Libri IV, ed. tr. and comm. A.
Cameron (London, 1976); also ed. J.
Partsch, MGHAA iii (Berlin, 1897)
'ErnXoyr) a?TO rrjs €KKA7]oiaoTtKrjs
laropias, ed. J. A. Cramer, Anecdota
Graeca e codd. —‘manuscriptis
Bibliothecae Regiae Parisiensis, vol.
ii (Oxford, 1839, repr. Hildesheim,
1967)

Codex Theodosianus, ed. Th.
Mommsen, 3rd edn. (Berlin, 1962); tr.
C. Pharr, The Theodosian Code and
Novels and the Siimondian
Constitutions (Princeton, 1952)

Cyril of Scythopolis, ed. E. Schwartz,
Kyrillos von Skythopolis, Texte und
Untersuchungen, 49/2 (Leipzig, 1939);
tr. and comm. A. J. Festugiere, Les
Moines d'Orient: Les Moines de
Palestine, iii/i—3 (Paris, 1962-3); tr.
R. M. Price, Lives of the Monks of
Palestine (Kalamazoo, Mich., 1991)
Cyril of Scythopolis, Vita Euthymii
Cyril of Scythopolis, Vita Sabae
Constantine VII, De Administrando
Imperio, ed. and tr. G. Moravesik and
R. J. H. Jenkins, CFHB 1, 2nd edn.
(Washington, DC, 1967)

Damascius, Vita JIsidoii, ed. C.
Zintzen (Hildesheim, 1967)

Excerpta historica iussu imperatoris
Constantini Poiphyrogeniti confecta

Doctr. Jacobi

Elias Nis.

Epit. Caes.
Euseb. Chron.

Euseb. HE

Euseb. Speech

Euseb. VC

Eustath.

Eutrop. Brev.

Evagr.

Exc. Barb.

Exc. Barocc.

Exc. de ins.

Abbreviations

IV, de insidiis, ed. C. de Boor (Berlin,
1905)

Doctrina Iacobi nuper baptizati, ed.
V. Deroche, TM 11 (1991), 47-22,9
Eliae Metropolitae Nisibeni Opus
Chronologicum, pars prior (CSCO
Scr. Syr. 3rd ser. 7), ed. and tr. E. W.
Brooks (Rome, Paris, Leipzig, 1910)
(as above, Aur. Vict.)
Eusebios-Jerome, Chronicon, ed. R.
Helm, 3rd edn. (Leipzig, 1984)
Eusebios, Historia Ecclesiastica, ed.
E. Schwartz, 3 vols. (Leipzig, 1903-9);
tr. H. J. Lawlor and J. R. L. Oulton, 2
vols. (London, 1927-8) and G. A.
Williamson, Eusebius: The History of
the Church (Harmondsworth, 1965)
Eusebios, Tricennial Oration, ed. I. A.
Heikel (Leipzig, 1902); tr. H. A. Drake,
In Praise of Constantine (Berkeley
and Los Angeles, 1976)

Eusebios, Vita Constantini, ed. F.
Winkelmann (Berlin, 1975); tr. E. C.
Richardson in The Writings of the
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, i
(Oxford, 1890), 581-610

Eustathios of Epiphaneia, fragments,
ed. C. Miiller, FHG iv. 138-42
Eutropios, Breviarium ab urbe con-
dita, ed. F. Ruehl (Stuttgart, 1975); tr.
H. W. Bird, Eutropius: Breviarium,
TTH (Liverpool, 1993)

Evagrius, Ecclesiastical History, ed. J.
Bidez and L. Parmentier (London,
1898); tr. M. Whitby (Princeton, forth-
coming)

Excerpta latina Barbari, ed. C. Frick,
Chronica Minora, i (Leipzig, 1892),
183-371

Excerpta Barocciana, excerpts from
Codex Baroccianus 142, folios
212r-216r, Bodleian Library, Oxford
See under De insid.

Xx1

Abbreviations

Exc. deleg.

Exc. Val.

Fast. Vind. Post.
Fast. Vind. Prior.
Felix, Ep. 3
Festus, Brev.
Flusin, Anastase
Gallic Chron.

Gel. Caes.

Geo. Mon.

Geo. Mon. cont.

Geo. Pisid. Bell. avar.

Geo. Pisid. Exp. Pers.
Geo. Pisid. Her.
Geo. Pisid. In rest. S. Crucis

Gerontius, V. Mel.

Excerpta historica iussu imperatoris
Constantini Porphyrogeniti confecta
I, de legationibus, ed. C. de Boor
(Berlin, 1903)

See under Anon. Val.

Fasti Vindobonenses Posteriores, ed.
Th. Mommsen, MGH AA ix (Berlin,
1892)

Fasti Vindobonenses Priores, ed. Th.
Mommsen, MGH AA ix (Berlin, 1892)
Felix, Epistulae et Decreta, PL 58:
889-978

The Breviarium of Festus, ed. J. W.
Eadie (London, 1967)

B. Flusin, Saint Anastase le Perse, vol.
ii (Paris, 1992)

Chron. Gall. a. CCCCLII, ed. Th.
Mommsen, MGH AA ix (Berlin, 1892)
Gelasios of Caesarea, cited /a] from
Theod. Lect. (ed. Hansen), 158-9, and
(b) from F. Winkelmann, 'Charakter
und Bedeutung der Kirchengeschichte
des Gelasios von Kaisareia’, ByzF 1
(1966), 346-85

Georgius Monachus, Chronicon, ed.
C. deBoor (Leipzig, 1904), 2nd edn., P.
Wirth (Stuttgart, 1978)

Georgius Monachus, Vitae recentio-
rum imperatorum, in Theophanes
Continuatus, ed. I. Bekker, CSHB
(Bonn, 1838)

George of Pisidia, Bellum Avaricum,
in Giorgio di Pisidia, poemi I:
Panegirici epici, ed., tr. and comm. A.
Pertusi (Ettal, 1959)

George of Pisidia, Expeditio Persica,
in A. Pertusi (as above)

George of Pisidia, Heraclias, in A.
Pertusi (as above)

George of Pisidia, In Restitutionem S.
Crucis, in A. Pertusi (as above)
Gerontius, Vita Sanctae Melaniae
Iunioris, AnBoll 8 (1889), 16-63

XXxli

Goar, Euchologion

Greg. Naz. Or.

Greg. Tur. HF

Guidi, Bios

Hyd. Lem.

[Hypoth. Arian]

Jac. Edess.

Jerome, Chron.

Jerome, De Viris

Joh. Ant.

Joh. Bid.

Joh. Eph. HE

Abbreviations

J. Goar, Euchologion sive Rituale
Graecorum (Paris, 1647)

Gregory of Nazianzus, Orationes, in
Gregoire de Nazianze: Discours, ed.
and tr. J. Mossay et al., 6 vols. (Paris,
1978-85)

Gregory of Tours, Historia
Francorum, ed. B. Krusch and W.
Levison, MGH SRM i (Hanover, 19 51).
tr. L. Thorpe, Gregory of Tours: The
History of the Franks (Harmonds-
worth, 1974)

Un Bios di Costantino ( =BHG 364),
ed. M. Guidi, RendLincei, 5th ser. 16
(1907), 306-40, 637-55 (Rome, 1908)
Hydatius Lemicensis, Chronicon, ed.
and tr. R. W. Burgess in The Chronicle
of Hydatius and the Consularia
Constantinopolitana (Oxford, 1993);
also ed. Th. Mommsen, MGH AA xi
(Berlin, 1894); cited by year
Hypothetical Arian history. See
Introduction, p. Ixxxf.

'The Chronological Canon of James of
Edessa’, tr. E. W. Brooks, ZDMG 53
(1899), 261-327,- also in Chronicon
Iacobi Edesseni (CSCO Scr. Syr. 3rd
ser. 4/3), tr. E. W. Brooks (Paris, 1903)
Die Chronik des Hieronymus, 3rd
edn. ed. R. W. O. Helm (Berlin, 1984)
Hieronymus, Liber De viris inlus-
tribus, ed. E. C. Richardson (Leipzig,
1896)

John of Antioch, fragments, in
Excerpta de insidiis, ed. C. de Boor
(Berlin, 1905); also ed. C. Miiller, FHG
iv. 535-622, v. 27-38

John of Biclar, Chronicle, ed. Th.
Mommsen, MGH AA xi (Berlin,
1894); tr. K. B. Wolf, Conquerors and
Chroniclers of Early Medieval Spain,
TTH (Liverpool, 1990)

John of Ephesos, Ecclesiastical

XXili

Joh. Lyd. De Mag.

Joh. Nik.

John Chrys.
John Dam. De Imag.

John Diacrinomenos
Jord. Rom.
Josh. Styl.

Julian, Ep.

Julian, Or.

Just. Nov.

Kedr.

Khuz. Chr.

Kleinchronik

Abbreviations

History, Part Ill, ed. and tr. E. W.
Brooks [CSCO Scr. Syr. 3rd ser. 3)
(Louvain, 1952); also tr. R. Payne
Smith, The Third Part of the
Ecclesiastical History of John of
Ephesus (Oxford, i860)

John Lydus, De Magistratibus Populi
Romani, ed. R. Wuensch (Leipzig,
1903); also ed. and tr. A. C. Bandy,
John Lydus, On Powers (Philadelphia,
1982)

John of Nikiu, Chronicle of John,
Bishop of Nikiu, tr. R. H. Charles
(London, 1916)

On Statues, PG 49: 15-222

John of Damascus, De Imaginibus
Orationes III, ed. B. Kotter, Die
Schriften des Johannes von Damas-
kos, III (Berlin and New York, 1975)
InTheod. Lect. 152-7

Jordanes, Romana, MGH AA v/i, ed.
Th. Mommsen (Berlin, 1882)

The Chronicle of Joshua the Stylite,
ed. and tr. W. Wright (Cambridge,
1882); also tr. F. Trombley and J. Watt,
TTH (Liverpool, 1996)

Julian, Epistulae, ed. J. Bidez et al.,
L'Empereur Julien, CEuvres completes
(Paris, 1932-63)

Julian, Orationes, in L'Empereur
Julien (as above)

Justinian, Novellae in Corpus Juris
Civilis vol. iii, ed. R. Schoell and W.
Kroll (6th edn., Berlin, 1954)

George Kedrenos, | Compendium
Historiarum, ed. I. Bekker, 2 vols.,
CSHB (Bonn, 1838-9)
Kirchengeschichte of | Theodore
Lector: see under Theod. Lect.
‘Khuzistan Chronicle’ = Chronicon
anonymum (CSCO Scr. Syr. 3rd ser.
2), tr. I. Guidi (Louvain, 1903)

Die byzantinischen Kleinchroniken,

XXIV

Lact. Mort. Pers.

Leo Diac.
Leo Gramm.
Lewond

Lib. Or.

Lib. Pont.

Liber Chalipharum
Liberatus, Brev.

Mai.
Mai. frag. Tusc.

Mai. Trans.

Malch.

Mansi

Mar. Avent.

Marcell. com.

Abbreviations

ed. P. Schreiner, 3 vols. (Vienna,
1975-9)

Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecuto-
rum, ed. and tr. J. L. Creed (Oxford,
1985)

Leonis diaconi historia, ed. C. B.
Hase, CSHB (Bonn, 1828)

Leonis Grammatici Chronographia,
ed. I. Bekker, CSHB (Bonn, 1842)
History of Lewond, tr. Z. Arzou-
manian (Philadelphia, 1982)
Libanius, Orationes, ed. R. Foerster, 4
vols. (Leipzig, 1903-8)

Le Liber Pontificalis: Texte, introduc-
tion et commentaire, 2 vols, ed. L.
Duchesne, 2nd edn. (Paris, 1955-7); tr.
R. Davis, The Book of Pontiffs, TTH
(Liverpool, 1989) and id., The Lives of
the Eighth-Century Popes, TTH
(Liverpool, 1992)

= Chr. j 24

Liberatus, Breviarium causae Nest-
orianorum et Eutychianorum, ed. E.
Schwartz, ACO 11/5: 98-141; also in
PL 68: 969-1050

Malalas, Chronographia, ed. __L.
Dindorf CSHB (Bonn, 1831)

John Malalas, Tusculan fragments, in
PG 85: 1805-24

John Malalas, The Chronicle, tr. E.
Jeffreys, M. Jeffreys, and R. Scott
(Melbourne, 1986)

Malchus of Philadelphia, fragments,
FCH ii, also ed. C. Miiller in PHG iv
J. D. Mansi, Saerorum Conciliorum
nova et amplissima _ collectio
(Florence, 1759-98)

Marius Aventicensis, Chronicle, ed. J.
Favrod, La Chronique de Marius
d'Avenches (455-581) _— (Lausanne,
1991); also ed. Th. Mommsen, MGH
AA xi (Berlin, 1894)

Marcellinus comes, Chronicle, ed.

XXV

Marcell. com. addit.

Marius Mercator

Mateos, Typicon

Maur. Strat.

Meg. Chron.

Men. Prot.

Mich. Syr.

Mir. Artem.

Mir. Dem.

Mir. S. Theclae

Movses

Abbreviations

Th. Mommsen, MGH AA xi (Berlin,
1894); tr. B. Croke (Sydney, 199s)
Marcellinus comes, Additions to the
Chronicle, ed. Th. Mommsen, MGH
AA xi (Berlin, 1894)

Marius Mercator, in PL 48; also ed.
E. Schwartz, AC Oils

Le Typicon de la Grande Eglise, ed.
J. Mateos, Orientalia Christiana
Periodica, 165-6, 2 vols. (Rome,
1962-3)

Maurice, Strategikon, ed. G. T. Dennis
and E. Gamillscheg, CFHB (Vienna,
1981); also Maurice's Strategikon:
Handbook of Byzantine Military
Strategy, tr. G. T. Dennis, (Phila-
delphia, 1988)

Megas Chronographos: see Klein-
chronik, also tr. M. and M. Whitby,
Chronicon Paschale (as above),
194-200

Menander Protector, fragments, in
The History of Menander the Guards-
man, ed. and tr. R. C. Blockley
(Liverpool, 1985); also ed. C. Miillerin
FHG iv

Chronique de Michel le _ Syrien,
Patriarche Jacobite dAntioche
1166-1199, “d- and tr. J. B. Chabot, 4
vols. (Paris, 1899-1924), quoted by
vol. and p. of translation

Miracula Artemii, in Varia Graeca
Sacra, ed. A. Papodopoulos-Kerameus
(St Petersburg, 1909), 1-75

Miracula S. Demetrii, ed. and tr.
P. Lemerle, Les plus anciens Recueils
des Miracles de Saint Demetrius, i: Le
Texte (Paris, 1979)

Vie et Miracles de Sainte Thecle, ed.
G. Dagron (Brussels, 1978)

The History of the Caucasian
Albanians by Movses Dasxuranci, tr.
C. }. F. Dowsett (London, 1961)

XXv1

Nestorios, Bazaar

Nik. Chon.

Nik. Chron.

Nik. or
Mango, Nikeph.

Nik. Kali.
Nonnosus
Olymp.

Oros.

Ox. Pap.

Pan. Lat.

Parast.

Patria

Paul. Diac. Hist. Lang.

Abbreviations

Nestorios, Bazaar of Heracleides, tr.
G. Driver and L. Hodgson (Oxford,
192.5)

Niketas Choniates, Historia, ed. J. L.
van Dieten, CFHB (Berlin and New
York, 1975)

Nikephoros, Chronographikon syn-
tomon, ed. C. de Boor, Nicephori
opuscula historica (Leipzig, 1880),
79-135

Nikephoros, Patriarch of Constantin-
ople, Short History, ed., tr. and
comm. C. Mango, CFHB (Washing-
ton, DC, 1990)
Nikephoros Kallistos,
Ecclesiastica, PG 145-7
Nonnosus, fragments, ed. C. Miiller,
FHG iv. 178-80

Olympiodorus of Thebes, fragments,
FCH ii; also ed. C. Miiller, FHG iv
Orosius, Historiarum adversus
paganos libri VIII, ed. C. Zange-
meister, CSEL (Vienna, 1882); tr. R. J.
Deferarri (Washington, DC, 1964)

B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt, eds., The
Oxyrhynchus Papyri (London, 1898- )
XII Panegyrici Latini, ed. and tr. E.
Galletier, Panegyriques latins, 3 vols.
(Paris, 1949-55)

Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronikai, ed.
T. Preger, Scriptores originum
Constantinopolitanarum, vol. i.
(Leipzig, 1901); ed. tr., and comm. A.
Cameron and J. Herrin, Constantin-
ople in the Early Eighth Century: The
Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronikai
(Leiden, 1984)

Patria Constantinopoleos, ed. T.
Preger, Scriptores Originum Constan-
tinopolitanarum, vol. ii (Leipzig,
1907)

Paul the Deacon, Historia Lango-
bardorum, ed. G. Waitz, MGH,

Historia

XXVil

Abbreviations

Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum in
usum scholarum separatim editi-, tr.
W. D. Foulke, Paul the Deacon,
History of _ the Langobards
(Philadelphia, 1907)

Paul. Silent. Ekphrasis Paul the Silentiary, ‘eV(/>pacrij TOV
vaov rrjs Ayias Eo<f>ias, ed. L.
Friedlaender (Leipzig and Berlin, 1912)

P'awstos P'awstos Buzand, The Epic Histories
attributed to P'awstos Buzand
(Buzandaran Patmut'iwnk'), tr. and
comm. N. G. Garsoian (Cambridge,

Mass., 1989)

Petr. Patr. Peter the Patrician, fragments, ed. C.
Miiller, in FHG iv

Philip of Side C. de Boor, Neue Fragmente des

Papias, Hegesippus und Pierius, in
bisher unbekannten Excerpten aus der
Kirchengeschichte des _ Philippus
SidetesinTU5 (Leipzig, 1889), 165-84
Philost. Philostorgios, Historia Ecclesiastica,
ed. J. Bidez, rev. G. Winkelmann
(Berlin, 1972); tr. E. Walford in
Sozomen and Philostorgius, Bohn's
Ecclesiastical Library (London, 1855)

Photios, Bibl. Photios, Bibliotheca, 8 vols., ed. R.
Henry (Paris, 1959-77)
Pliny, HN Pliny, Historia Naturalis, ed. and tr.

H. Rackham et al, 10 vols.
(Cambridge, Mass., 1938-62)

Priscian, Pan. Priscian, Panegyricus Imperatoiis
Anastasii ed. E. Baehrens, in Poetae
Latini Minores, vol. v (Leipzig, 1883);
also ed. and tr. A. Chauvot, Procope
de Gaza, Priscien de _ Cesaree,
Panegyriques de l'empereur Anastase
ier (Bonn, 1986)

Priscus Priscus of Panium, fragments, FCH ii,
also ed. C. Miiller, PHG iv
Prok. Prokopios of Caesarea, Opera, ed.

J. Haury, rev. G. Wirth (Leipzig,
1962-4); ed. and tr. H. B. Dewing, 7
vols. (Cambridge, Mass., 1914-40)

XXVIli

Prok. Aed.
Prok. Anecd.

Prok. BG
Prok. BP
Prok. BV
Prok. Gaz. Pan.

Proklos, Or.

Prosp. Cont. Havn.

Prosp. Tiro

Ps.-Dion. Chron.

Ps.-Dorotheos

Ps.-Pollux

Ruf. HE

Scr. inc.

Sebeos

Simpl.

Skout.

Skylax, Periplus

Abbreviations

Prokopios, De Aedificiis

Prokopios, Anecdota sive Historia
Arcana

Prokopios, De bello Gothico
Prokopios, De bello Persico
Prokopios, De bello Vandalico
Prokopios of Gaza, Panegyricus in
imperatorem Anastasium, ed. C.
Kempen (Bonn, 1918); ed. and tr. A.
Chauvot, as above under Priscian,
Pan.

Proklos, Orationes, PG 65: 679-834
Auctarii Hauniensis Extrema, ed. Th.
Mommsen, MGH AA ix. 337-9
Prosper Tiro, Chronicle, ed. Th.
Mommsen, MGH AA ix (Berlin, 1892)
Chronicon pseudo-dionysianum vulgo
dictum, tr. J. B. Chabot (CSCO Scr.
Syr. 3rd ser. 1, vol. 121) (Louvain,
1949) and R. Hespel (CSCO Scr. Syr.
213, vol. 507) (Louvain, 1989)

T. Scherman, Prophetarum vitae fab-
ulosae (Leipzig, 1907)

I. Hardt, ed., Julii Pollucis Historia
Physica seu Chronicon (Munich and
Leipzig, 1792)

Rufinus, Historia Ecclesiastica, PL
21: 467-540

Scriptor incertus de Leone Bardae
filio, ed. I. Bekker, CSHB along with
Leo grammaticus (Bonn, 1842)
Sebeos, Histoire d'Heraclius par
l'eveque Sebeos, tr. F. Macler (Paris,
1904)

Simplikios, Commentaries on Aris-
totle, in Commentaria in Aristotelem
Graeca vii-xi

Skoutariotes, ZjJwoipis Xpovik-r'], ed.
C. Sathas, MeaaLwviakrj BifiAiodrjKr),
vii (Paris, 1894), 1-556

Ps.-Scylax, ed. C. Miiller, Geographi
graeci minores, i, 15-96; ed. Basch-
makoff, Synthese

XX1X

Skylitzes

Sokr.

Souda

Soz.

Strabo

Strategios

Syn. CP

Syn. Vetus
Synk.

Tabari

Taban, Williams
Theod. HE

Abbreviations

fohn Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum,
ed. H. Thurn, CFHB (Berlin and New
York, 1973)

Sokrates, Church History, ed. R.
Hussey, 3 vols. (Oxford, 1883), tr.
Bohn’'s Ecclesiastical Library (London,
18S3)

Suidae Lexicon, ed. A. Adler, 5 vols.
(Leipzig, 1928-38)

Sozomen, Kirchengeschichte, ed. J.
Bidez and G. C. Hansen (Berlin, i960);
tr. E. Walford, see above under
Philostorgius

The Geography of Strabo, ed. and tr.
H. L. Jones (Cambridge, Mass., 1917-33)
Antiochus Strategios, La Prise de
Jerusalem par les Perses en 614, tr. G.
Garitte (CSCO Scr. Iberici, 12)
(Louvain, i960); also ‘Account of the
Sack of Jerusalem in A.D. 614’, tr. F.
C. Conybeare, EHR 25 (1910), 502-17;
Arabic versions tr. G. Garitte (CSCO
Scr. Arab. 27 and 29) (Louvain, 1973-4)
Synaxarium ecclesiae Constantino-
politanae, ed. H. Delehaye, Propy-
laeum ad AASS Nov. (Brussels, 1902)
The Synodicon Vetus, ed. J. Duffy and
J. Parker (Washington, DC, 1979)
Synkellos, Ecloga Chronographica,
ed. A. A. Mosshammer (Leipzig, 1984)
Tabari, Annales, ed. M.J. de Goeje et
al, 15 vols. (Leiden, 1879-1901); tr.
E. Yar-Shater et al., The History of al-
Tabari: An Annotated Translation
(Albany, 1985- ), quoted by vol. num-
ber. See also Noldeke, Tabari, and
Williams, Tabari (below)

See Williams, Tabari

Theodoret, Historia Ecclesiastica, ed.
L. Parmentier (Berlin, 1954); tr. B.
Jackson in The Writings of the Nicene
and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd ser. iii
(Oxford, 1892)

XXX

Theod. HR

Theod. Lect.

Theod. Stud. epp.

Theoph. Cont.
Theoph. Sim.
Typicon

V. Athan.

V. Dan. Styl.

V. Eutych.

V. loann. Gotth.
V. loannic.

V. Irenes

V. Matronae

V. Mich. Sync.

V. Niceph.

V. Nicet. Medic.

Abbreviations

Theodoret, Historia religiosa, ed. and
tr. P. Canivet and A. Leroy-
Molinghen, 2 vols. (Paris, 1977-9); tr.
R. M. Price, A History of the Monks of
Syria by Theodoret of Cyrrhus
(Kalamazoo, Mich., 1985)

Theodoros Anagnostes, Kirchen-
geschichte, ed. G. C. Hansen (Berlin,
i97i)

Theodori Studitae epistulae, ed. G.
Fatouros, CFHB, 2 vols. (Berlin and
New York, 1992)

Theophanes Continuatus, ed. I.
Bekker, CSHB (Bonn, 1838)
Theophylact Simocatta, History, ed. C.
de Boor, rev. P. Wirth (Stuttgart, 1972);
tr. M. and M. Whitby (Oxford, 1986)
See Mateos, Typicon

Anon., Vita Athanasii, PG 25:
clxxxv-ccxi

Vita S. Danielis Stylitae, ed. H.
Delehaye, AnBoll 32(1913) and in Les
Saints Stylites (Brussels and Paris,
1923); tr. E. Dawes and N. H. Baynes
in Three Byzantine Saints (Crest-
wood, NY, 1977), 7-71

Eustratios, Vita Eutychii, PG 86:
2273-2390

Vita Ioannis ep. Gotthiae, AASS, Tun.
V, 184-94.

Vitae Ioannicii, AASS, Nov. IL
332.-435-

‘La Vie de l'imperatrice Sainte Irene’,
ed. F. Halkin, AnBoll 106 (1988), 5-27
Vita Matronae, AASS, Nov _ III
790-813

The Life of Michael the Synkellos, ed.
M. B. Cunningham (Belfast, 1991)
Vita Nicephori, ed. C. de Boor,
Nicephori opuscula historica (Leipzig,
1880), 139-217

Vita Nicetae Mediciensis, AASS, Apr.
I, Xxii-xxxii

XXXi

V. Philareti
V. Steph. iun.

V. Sym. Iun.

V. Taras.

V. Theod. Stud. I and II

V. Theodori Sykeot.

Vict. Tonn.

Vict. Vit.

Zach. HE

Zach. V. Sev.

Zon.

Abbreviations

'La Vie de S. Philarete’, ed. M.-H. Four-
my and M. Leroy, Byz 9 (1934), 113-67
Vita Stephani iunioris, PG 100:
1069-1186

La Vie ancienne de Symeon Sty lite le
jeune, ed. and tr. P. van den Ven 2
vols. (Brussels, 1962-70)

Vita Tarasii (by Ignatios the Deacon),
ed. I. A. Heikel, Acta Soc. Scien-
tiarum Fennicae, 17 (1889), 395-423
Vita Theodori Studitae (I), PG 99:
113-223; (II) 223-328

Vie de Theodore de Sykeon, ed. and tr.
A. J. Festugiere, Subs. hag. 48
(Brussels, 1970)

Victor Tonnenensis, Chronicle, ed.
Th. Mommsen, MGH AA xi (Berlin,
1894)

Victor Vitensis, Historia Persecu-
tions Africanae Provinciae, ed. C.
Helm, MGH AA iii (Berlin, 1879); also
ed. M. Petschenig (CSEL 7, Vienna,
1881); tr. }. Moorhead, Victor of Vita:
History of the Vandal Persecution,
TTH (Liverpool, 1992)

Zachariah of Mytilene, Historia
Ecclesiastica Zachariae Rhetori vulgo
adscript a (CSCO Scr. Syr. 3rd ser. 5),
tr. E. W. Brooks (Louvain, 1924); also
The Syriac Chronicle known as that
of Zachariah of Mitylene, tr. J. F.
Hamilton and E. W. Brooks (London,
1899)

Zachariah Rhetor, Vita Severi, ed. and
tr. M.-A. Kugener, PO ii (1907)
Ioannes Zonaras, Epitome Histori-
arum, ed. L. Dindorf, 6 vols. (Leipzig,
1868-75); also ed. T. Biittner-Wobst,
vol. iii (Bonn, 1897)

Zosimus, Historia Nova, ed. L.
Mendelssohn (Leipzig, 1887); also ed.
and tr. F. Paschoud, 3 vols. (Paris,
1971-89)

XXXil

3. Modern Works
Ahrweiler, Mer

Alexander, Nicephorus

Amari, Storia
Antoniadis-Bibicou,
Douanes
Artamonov, Istorija
Barnes, Athanasius
Barnes, CE

Barnes, NE

Baschmakoff, Synthese
Berger, Patria
Besevliev, Protobulg.
Inschr.

Besevliev, Protobulg.
Periode

Bon, Peloponnese

Braund, Georgia

Brightman, Liturgies

Brooks, 'Abbasids'

Abbreviations

H. Ahrweiler, Byzance et la Mer: La
Marine de guerre, la politique et les
institutions maritimes de Byzance
aux Vlle-XVe siecles (Paris, 1966)

P. J. Alexander, The Patriarch
Nicephorus of Constantinople:
Ecclesiastical Policy and Image in the
Byzantine Empire (Oxford, 1958)

M. Amari, Storia dei Musulmani di
Sicilia, 2nd edn. by C. A Nallino
(Catania, 1933-9)

H. Antoniadis-Bibicou, Recherches
sur les douanes a Byzance (Paris,
1963)

M. I. Artamonov, Istorija Khazar
(Leningrad, 1962)

T. D. Barnes, Constantius and Athan-
asius (Cambridge, Mass., 1993)

T. D. Barnes, Constantine and
Eusebius (Cambridge, Mass., 1981)
T. D. Barnes, The New Empire of
Diocletian and Constantine (Cam-
bridge, Mass., 1982)

A. Baschmakoff, La Synthese des
periplespontiques [Paris, 1948)

A. Berger, Untersuchungen zu den
Patria Konstantinupoleos, Poikila
Byzantina, 8 (Bonn, 1988)

V. Besevliev, Die protobulgarischen
Inschriften (Berlin, 1962)

V. Besevliev, Die protobulgarische
Periode der bulgarischen Geschichte
(Amsterdam, 1980)

A. Bon, Le Peloponnese byzantin
(Paris, 1951)

D. C. Braund, Georgia in Antiquity
(Oxford, 1994)

F. E. Brightman, Liturgies Eastern and
Western, vol. i: Eastern Liturgies
(Oxford, 1896)

E. W. Brooks, ‘Byzantines and Arabs

XXXIli

Abbreviations

Brooks, 'Arabs'

Brooks, 'Campaign'

Bury, Adm. System

Bury, ERE

Bury, HLRE'

Butler, Conquest

Caetani, Annali

Caetani, Chron.
Cameron, Circus Factions
Chadwick, Early Church

Charanis, Church and State

Chitty, Desert

Christensen, Iran

in the Time of the Early Abbasids’,
EHR 15 (1900), 728-47

E. W. Brooks, 'The Arabs in Asia
Minor (641-750) from Arabic
Sources’, JHS 18 (1898), 182-208

E. W. Brooks, 'The Campaign of
716-718 from Arabic Sources’, JHS 19
(1899), 29-91

J. B. Bury, The Imperial Administra-
tive System in the Ninth Century,
with a revised text of the Kletoro-
logion of Philotheos (London, 1911)
J. B. Bury, History of the Eastern
Roman Empire from the Fall of Irene
to the Accession of Basil I (London,
1912)

J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman
Empire from Arcadius to Irene
(395-800), 2 vols. (London, 1889)

}. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman
Empire from the death of Theodosius
I to the death of Justinian, 2 vols.
(London, 1923; repr. New York, 1958)
A. J. Butler, The Arab Conquest of
Egypt and the Last Thirty Years of the
Roman Domination, 2nd edn., rev.
P. M. Fraser (Oxford, 1978)

L. Caetani, Annali dell'Islam, 10 vols,
in nu pts. (Milan, 1905-26; repr.
Hildesheim and New York, 1972)

L. Caetani, Chronographia Islamica,
5 fasc. (Paris, 1912-n.d.)

A. Cameron, Circus Factions (Oxford,
1976)

H. Chadwick, The Early Church
(London, 1967)

P. Charanis, Church and State in the
Later Roman Empire, 2nd edn. (Thes-
saloniki, 1974)

D. J. Chitty, The Desert a City
(Oxford, 1966)

A. Christensen, L'Iran sous les Sas-
sanides, 2nd edn. (Copenhagen, 1944)

XXXIV

Clinton, Fasti Romani

Combefis

Conrad, 'Arwad'

Dagron, Naissance

Darrouzes, Notitiae

Demangel, Hebdomon

Dillemann, Mesopotamie

Dolger, Reg.

Donner, Conquests

Du Cange, Gloss.

Duchesne

Dussaud, Topographie

Ebersolt, Grand Palais

Ebersolt, Ste-Sophie

Abbreviations

H. F. Clinton, Fasti Romani, 2 vols.
(Oxford, 1845-50)

F. Combefis, notes in Theophanes,
Chronographia, ed. J. Classen, CSHB
(Bonn, 1839), ii. 556-668

L. I. Conrad, 'The Conquest of Arwad:
A Source-Critical Study in the
Historiography of the Early Medieval
Near East’, in A. Cameron and L. I.
Conrad, eds., The Byzantine and
Early Islamic Near East (I): Problems
in the Literary Source Material
(Princeton, 1992)

G. Dagron, Naissance d'une capitale:
Constantinople et ses institutions de
330 a 451 (Paris, 1974)

J. Darrouzes, ed., Notitiae episco-

patuum ecclesiae Constantino poli-
tanae (Paris, 1981)
R. Demangel, Contribution a _ la

topographie de I'Hebdomon (Paris,
1945)

L. Dillemann, Haute Mesopotamie et
pays adjacents (Paris, 1962)

F. Dolger, Regesten der Kaiserur-
kunden des ostromischen Reiches, 5
vols. (Munich and Berlin, 1924-65)

F. M. Donner, The Early Islamic
Conquests (Princeton, 1981)

C. Du Fresne Du Cange, Glossarium
ad scriptores mediae et infimae
graecitatis (Lyon, 1688 and reprints)
L. Duchesne, Early History of the
Christian Church, tr. C. Jenkins, 3
vols. (London, 1909-24)

R. Dussaud, Topographie historique
de la Syrie antique et medievale
(Paris, 1927)

J. Ebersolt, Le Grand Palais de
Constantinople et le Livre des
Ceremonies (Paris, 1910)

J. Ebersolt, Sainte-Sophie de Constan-
tinople (Paris, 1910)

XXXV

Ebersolt, Sanctuaires

Fischer, Catal.

Fliche-Martin

Flusin, Anastase

Frend, Monophysite
Movement

Gero, Constantine V

Gero, Leo III

Goeje, Conquete

Grierson, Catal. DO

Grumel

Grumel, Reg.

Guilland, Etudes

Haldon, Praetorians

Hendy, Economy

Higgins, Persian War

Abbreviations

J. Ebersolt, Sanctuaires de Byzance
(Paris, 1921)

F. Fischer, De Patriarcharum Con-
stantinopolitanorum catalogis in
Commentationes philologae Jenenses
Ill (Leipzig, 1884), 263-333

A. Fliche and V. Martin, Histoire de
'Eglise depuis les origines jusqu'a
nos jours (Paris, 1934-56)

B. Flusin, Saint Anastase le Perse et
l'histoire de la Palestine au debut du
VII’ siecle, 2 vols. (Paris, 1992)

W. H. C. Frend, The Rise of the Mono-
physite | Movement — (Cambridge,
1972)

S. Gero, Byzantine Iconoclasm during
the Reign of Constantine V, CSCO
subs. 52 (Louvain, 1977)

S. Gero, Byzantine Iconoclasm during
the Reign of Leo III, CSCO subs. 41
(Louvain, 1973)

M. J. de Goeje, Memoire sur la con-
quete de la Syrie, 2nd edn. (Leiden,
1900)

P. Grierson, Catalogue of the Byzan-
tine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks
Collection and in the Whittemore
Collection, vols, ii/1-2, — iii/1-2
(Washington, DC, 1968-73)

V. Grumel, La Chronologie (Paris,
1958)

V. Grumel, Les Regestes des actes du
patriarcat de Constantinople, i-ii
(Kadikoy, 1932-6)

R. Guilland, Etudes de topographie de
Constantinople byzantine, 2 vols.
(Berlin, 1969)

J. F. Haldon, Byzantine Praetorians
(Bonn, 1984)

M. F. Hendy, Studies in the Byzantine
Monetary — Economy, C. 300-1450
(Cambridge, 1985)

M. }. Higgins, The Persian War of the

XXXv1

Holum, Theodosian,
Empresses

Honigmann, Ostgrenze

Howard-Johnston, 'The
Official History'

Hunger,

Hochsprachliche Lit.

Jaffe, Reg. pont. rom.

Janin, CP

Janin, Eglises

Janin, Grands centres

Jones, LRE
Justi, Namenbuch
Kaegi, Conquests

Kaegi, Unrest

Abbreviations

Emperor Maurice (582-602), i: The
Chronology (Washington, DC, 1939)
K. G. Holum, Theodosian Empresses:
Women and Imperial Dominion in
Late Antiquity, (Berkeley, Los
Angeles, London, 1982)

E. Honigmann, Die Ostgrenze des
byzantinisches Reiches von 363 bis
1071 nach griechischen, arabischen,
syrischen und armenischen Quellen,
Brussels, (1935; part Ill of A. A.
Vasiliev, Byzance et les Arabes)

J. D. Howard-Johnston, 'The Official
History of Heraclius' Campaigns’, The
Roman and Byzantine Army in the
East, ed. E. Dbrowa (Cracow, 1994)
H. Hunger, Die hochsprachliche pro-
fane Literatur der Byzantiner, 2 vols.
(Munich, 1978)

Regesta Pontificum Romanorum, 2nd
edn., ed. W. Wattenbach, S. Loewen-
feld, et al., 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1885-8)
R. Janin, Constantinople byzantine:
Developpement urbain et repertoire
topographique, 2nd edn. _ (Paris,
1964)

R. Janin, Geographie ecclesiastique
de 1'Empire byzantin, i: Le Siege de
Constantinople et le Patriarcat
cecumenique; iii: Les Eglises et les
monasteres, 2nd edn. (Paris, 1969)

R. Janin,-Les Eglises et les monasteres
des grands centres byzantins (Paris,
I97S)

A. H. M. Jones, The Later Roman
Empire, 284-602 (Oxford, 1964)

F. Justi, JIranisches Namenbuch
(Marburg, 1895)

W. E. Kaegi, Byzantium and the Early
Islamic Conquests (Cambridge, 1992)
W. E. Kaegi, Byzantine Military
Unrest, 4J1-843: an Interpretation
(Amsterdam, 1981)

XXXVil

Kidd
Kraeling, Gerasa
Kulakovskij, Istorija

Lampe

Laurent, Armenie

Laurent, Corpus

Le Strange, Palestine
Lemerle, Agr. History
Lemerle, Recueils
Likhacev, Molivdovuly
Lilie

Lombard, Constantin V
McCormick,

Eternal Victory

Mai. Studies

Mango, Art

Mango, Brazen House

Abbreviations

B. J. Kidd, A History of the Church to
A.D. 461 (Oxford, 1922)

C. H. Kraeling, ed., Gerasa, City of
the Decapolis (New Haven, 1938)

J. Kulakovskij, Istorija Vizantii 3 vols.
(Kiev, 1912-15)

G. W. H. Lampe, A Patristic Greek
Lexicon (Oxford, 1961)

J. Laurent, L'Armenie entre Byzance
et I'lslam, ed. M. Canard (Lisbon,
1980)

V. Laurent, Le corpus des sceaux de
[Empire byzantin, i/1-3: L'Eglise
(Paris, 1963-72); ii: L'Administration
cent rale (Paris, 1981)

G. Le Strange, Palestine under the
Moslems (London, 1890; repr. Beirut,
196s)

P. Lemerle, The Agrarian History of
Byzantium from the Origins to the
Twelfth Century (Galway, 1979)

See Mir. Dem.

N. P. — Likhacev, = Molivdovuly
greceskogo Vostoka (Moscow, 1991)
R-J. Lilie, © Die — byzantinische
Reaktion auf die Ausbreitung der
Araber (Munich, 1976)

A. Lombard, Constantin V, empereur
des Romains (Paris, 1902)

M. McCormick, Eternal Victory:
Triumphal _Rulership in Late
Antiquity, Byzantium and the Early
Medieval West (Cambridge, 1986)
Studies in John Malalas, ed. E.
Jeffreys, B. Croke, and R. Scott
(Sydney, 1990)

C. Mango, The Art of the Byzantine
Empire: 312-1453, Sources and Docu-
ments (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1972)
C. Mango, The Brazen House:
A Study of the Vestibule of the
Imperial Palace of Constantinople,
Arkaeologisk-kunsthistoriske | Med-

XXXVIli

Mango, Byzantium

Mango, Developpement
Maraval, Lieux saints

Markwart,
Provincial Capitals

Mathews, Churches

Melioranskij, Georgij

Minorsky, 'Atropatene'

Moravesik,
Byzan tinoturcica
Mosshammer

Noldeke, Tabari

Ohnsorge, Okzident
Oikonomides, Listes
Olinder, Kings of Kinda

Opitz, Urkunde

Palmer, Seventh Century

Abbreviations

deleser Dan. Vid. Selsk. 4/4 (Copen-
hagen, 1959)

C. Mango, Byzantium, the Empire of
New Rome {London, 1980)

C. Mango, Le Developpement urbain
de Constantinople (IVe-VIle siecle),
2,nd.edn. (Paris, 1990)

P. Maraval, Lieux saints et peleri-
nages d'Orient (Paris, 1985)

J. Markwart, ed. G. Messina, ‘A
Catalogue of the Provincial Capitals
of Eranshahr' (Pahlavi text, version
and commentary), Analecta Orient-
alia, 3 (Rome, 1931)

T. F. Mathews, The
Churches of Istanbul
Park, Pa., 1976)

B. M. Melioranskij, Georgij Kiprjanin
i Ioann Terusalimljanin, dva_ mal-
oizvestnych borca za pravoslavie v
VIII v. (St Petersburg, 1901)

V. Minorsky, 'Roman and Byzantine
Campaigns in Atropatene’, BSOAS 11
(i944)/ M3-65

Gy. Moravcsik, Byzantinoturcica
(and edn.), 2 vols. (Berlin, 1958)

A. A. Mosshammer, The Chronicle of
Eusebius and Greek Chronographic
Tradition (Lewisburg, Pa., 1979)
Tabari, Geschichte der Perser und
Araber zur Zeit der Sassaniden, tr. T.
Noldeke (Leiden, 1879)

W. Ohnsorge, Konstantinopel und der
Okzident (Darmstadt, 1966)

N. Oikonomides, Les Listes deprese-
ance byzantines (Paris, 1972)

G. Olinder, The Kings of Kinda (Lund
and Leipzig, 1927)

H.-G. Opitz, Urkunden zur Geschich-
te des arianischen Streites 318-328
(Leipzig, 1934-5)

A. Palmer, S. Brock, and R. Hoyland,
The Seventh Century in the West-

Byzantine
(University

XXX1X

Ramsay, Geogr.

Rochow, Byzanz

Schonborn

Schwartz, PS

Seeck, Reg.

Seibt, Bleisiegel

Sinclair, Eastern Turkey

Speck, Artabasdos

Speck, Konstantin VI

Stein, BE

Stein, Studien

Stratos

Stratos, Studies

Studien 8. u. 9. Jh.

Syrie colloque

Abbreviations

Syrian Chronicles, TTH (Liverpool,
1993)

W. M. Ramsay, The Historical Geo-
graphy of Asia Minor (London, 1890)
I. Rochow, Byzanz im 8. Jahrhundert
in der Sicht des Theophanes (Berlin,
1991)

C. von Schonborn,
Jerusalem (Paris, 1972,)
E. Schwartz, ‘Publizistische Sam-
mlungen zum acacianischen Schis-
ma’, Abh. der bayer. Akad. der Wiss.,
Phil.-hist. Abt., NS 10/4 (1934)

O. Seeck, Regesten der Kaiser und
Papste (Stuttgart, 1919)

W. Seibt, Die byzantinischen Blei-
siegel in Osterreich, i: Kaiserhof
(Vienna, 1978)

T. A. Sinclair, Eastern Turkey: An
Architectural and Archaeological
Survey, 4 vols. (London, 1987-90)

P. Speck, Artabasdos, der rechtglau-
bige Vorkampfer der gottlichen
Lehren, Poikila Byzantina, 2 (Bonn,
1981)

P. Speck, Kaiser Konstantin VI
(Munich, 1978)

E. Stein, Histoire du Bas-Empire, 2
vols. (Paris, 1949-59)

E. Stein, Studien zur Geschichte des
byzantinischen Reiches vornehmlich
unter den Kaisern Justinus II und
Tiberius (Stuttgart, 1919)

A.N. Stratos, To Bvt,avTiov orov
alcbva, 6 vols. (Athens, 1965-77)

A. N. Stratos, Studies in jth-Century
Byzantine Political History (London,

Sophrone_ de

1983)

Studien zum 8. und g. Jahrhundert in
Byzanz, ed. H. Kopstein and F.
Winkelmann (Berlin, 1983)

P. Canivet and J.-P. Rey-Coquais, eds.,
La Syrie de Byzance a I'lslam. Actes

Tabachovitz, Studien

Toumanoff, Studies

Treadgold, Revival
Tsougarakis, Crete

Vailhe, 'Monasteres'

Van Dieten, Patriarchen

Van Millingen, Byz. CP

Vaschalde, Letters of
Philoxenos

Vasiliev, fus tin I

Vasmer, Slaven

Whitby, Simoc.

Williams, Tabari

Winkelmann,
Quellenstudien

Abbreviations

du colloque international (Damascus,
1992)

D. Tabachovitz, Sprachliche und text-
kritische Studien zur Chronik des
Theophanes Confessor, diss.
(Uppsala, 1926)

C. Toumanoff, Studies in Christian
Caucasian History (Georgetown,
Washington, DC, 1963)

W. Treadgold, The Byzantine Revival,
780-842 (Stanford, Calif., 1988)

D. Tsougarakis, Byzantine Crete
(Athens, 1988)

S. Vailhe, ‘Repertoire alphabetique
des monasteres de Palestine’, ROC 4
(1899), 512-42; 5 (1900), 19-48, 272-92
f. L. Van Dieten, Geschichte der
Patriarchen von Sergios I. bis
fohannes VI. (610-715) (Amsterdam,
1972)

A. van Millingen, Byzantine Constan-
tinople: The Walls of the City and the
Adjoining Historical Sites (London,

1899)
A. A. Vaschalde, Three Letters of
Philoxenos, bishop of Mabbogh

(485-519) (Rome, 1902)

A. A. Vasiliev, Justin the First: An
Introduction to the Epoch of Justinian
the Great (Cambridge, Mass., 1950)
M. Vasmer, Die — Slaven in
Griechenland, Abh. Preuss. Akad. d.
Wiss., philos.-hist. Kl. 12 (Berlin,
1941; repr. Leipzig, 1970)

M. and M. Whitby, The History of
Theophylact Simocatta (Oxford,
1986)

Al-Tabarl, The Early Abbasi Empire,
tr. J. A. Williams, 2 vols. (Cambridge,
1988-9)

F. Winkelmann, Ouellenstudien zur
herrschenden Klasse von Byzanz im
8. und 9. Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1987)

xli

Abbreviations

Winkelmann, Rangstruktur

Young, From Nicaea
Zacos-Veglery

Zepos, Jus

Zlatarski

F, Winkelmann, Byzantinische Rang-
und Amterstruktur im 8 und 9.
Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1985)

F. Young, From Nicaea to Chalcedon
(London, 1983)

G. Zacos and A. Veglery, Byzantine
Lead Seals (Basel, 1972)

Jus Graecoromanum, ed. }. and P.
Zepos, 8 vols. (Athens, 1931, repr.
Aalen, 1962)

V. Zlatarski, Istorija na Bulgarskata
Durzava prez srednite vekove, i/i
(Sofia, 1970)

xili

Introduction

I. GEORGE SYNKELLOS AND THEOPHANES

The Chronicle that bears the name of Theophanes Confessor (d. 8x8)
represents the continuation of that of George Synkellos, which cov-
ers the period from the creation of the world to the accession of
Diocletian.’ All we know about George is that he was a monk, that
he resided for some time in Palestine, most probably in the Old
Lavra of St Chariton (also known as Souka) near Tekoa,” that he held
the post of synkellos under Tarasios, patriarch of Constantinople
(784-806), and that he was still writing in 810.* Anastasius
Bibliothecarius, in the Preface to his translation (on which see
below, p. xcvii), says that George struggled valiantly against heresy
(presumably Iconoclasm) and received many punishments from the
rulers who raged against the rites of the Church; further, that he was
commended by the Roman legates at the Council of 787 (the
Seventh ecumenical), siquidem et laus eius in eodem septimo et
sancto concilio mpperitur,* This last statement appears to be due to
a confusion,’ and one may be tempted to doubt that George was ever
persecuted by the iconoclastic emperors.

The post of synkellos (literally 'cell-mate’) had no defined duties,
but stood very high in the ecclesiastical establishment.° Its incum-
bents were appointed by the emperor (certainly from the time of
Basil I and probably earlier) and on many occasions ascended the
patriarchal throne. This means that George may have owed his

"On Synkellos see H. Gelzer, Sextus Julius Africanus und die byzantinische
Chronographie, ii (Leipzig, 1885], 176 ff.; R. Laqueur, RE iv/2 (1932), 1388 ff., G. L.
Huxley, Pioc. Royal Irish Acad. 81, C, no. 6 (1981], 207-17; I. Sevcenko, DOP 46
(1992), 280 ff.

* As suggested by his comment (p. 122) on Rachel's tomb, situated between
Jerusalem and Bethlehem: 'I often saw her sarcophagus, which lies above ground, as
I was on my way in the direction of Bethlehem and the so-called Old Lavra of St.
Chariton.’ On the monastery see S. Vailhe, Bessarione, 3 (1897-8), 50 ff., id., ROC 4
(1899), 524-5; Chitty, Desert, 14-15 and fig. 11, on the tomb Maraval, Lieux saints,
272. We cannot agree with the argument of V. Grecu, Acad. Roumaine, Bulletin de
la section historique, 28/2 (1947), 241-5, that Synkellos' Palestinian reminiscences
have been copied from early Christian authors like Africanus and Eusebios.

3 Synk. 244; cf. 2. 4 Ed. de Boor along with Theoph., n. 34.

> Between Synkellos and George of Cyprus, the latter being mentioned in the Acts
of 787. Cf. Gelzer, Africanus, u. 177.

* See I. Sevcenko, DOP 41 (1987), 463-4 with earlier bibliography.

xliii

Introduction

position to the empress Irene (780-802) and that he was at
Constantinople a person of considerable importance. He need not,
however, have been the only sitting synkellos.” It has often been
asserted that he died in 811, but for this there is no evidence. He was,
however, dead at the time when Theophanes was writing the Preface
to his Chronicle, possibly in 814.

We are much better informed concerning Theophanes. The two
main sources for his biography are: (i) A panegyric by St Theodore
the Studite probably delivered in 822 on the occasion of the deposi-
tion of Theophanes' body in his monastery;> (ii) A Life by
Methodios, the future patriarch of Constantinople (843-7), written
before 832.2 A mass of other hagiographic material devoted to
Theophanes (BHG 1788-92) has little or no independent value.

At the cost of some repetition it will be useful to summarize sep-
arately the information provided by our two principal sources. First,
the panegyric by Theodore the Studite, which, if read between the
lines, is not uniformly complimentary to the honorand:

The Saint's parents, called Isaakios and Theodote, were noble and
rich. His father held a position of honour in the palatine hierarchy.
The Saint himself was tall and handsome, capable with his hands
and swift in the race. He became acquainted with the emperor and
was given the rank of strator.’° A short time thereafter, his father
having died, the Saint was married in his 19th year. It was said
that the couple remained continent. Whether that was so or not,
they were childless and, after a little more than two years of mar-
riage, both of them decided to embrace the monastic life. With the

’ The number of patriarchal synkelloi was limited to two by the emperor
Herakleios {Nov. 2), but we do not know how many of them there were simultane-
ously at the end of the 8 th cent. John, who was ordained metropolitan of Sardis in 803,
had been synkellos, probably under Tarasios: Joannis Saidiani commentarium in
Aphthonii Progymnasmata, ed. H. Rabe (Leipzig, 1928), xix. Cf. S. Efthymiadis, RSBN
NS 28 (19 91), 25 f. We are further told that Constantine VI, in trying to exert pressure
on Tarasios in the dispute over his ‘adulterous’ marriage (cf. below, n. 15), ‘set over
him guards who used the name of synkelloi, although they were far removed from
piety’: V. Tarasii, 412. 26. George, we may be sure, was not one of these arbitrarily
imposed synkelloi.

8 See now the complete edn. by S. Efthymiadis, AnBoll in (19931, 259-90, super-
seding that by C. Van de Vorst, AnBoll 31 (1912), 19-23 (mutilated at the end and
without the author's name).

° Ed. B. Latysev, Memoires del'Academie de Russie, 8th ser. 13/4 (1918), 1-40.
J. Gouillard, BZ 53 (i960], 36 ff., has shown that it pre-dates the Life of St Euthymios
of Sardis by the same author, which was composed 4o days after that saint's death
(26 Dec. 831). The Life of Euthymios is now edited in TM 10 (1987], 1 ff.

* i.e. ‘groom’, 6th from the bottom in the gth-cent. hierarchy of dignities. See
Oikonomides, Listes, 298.

xliv

George Synkellos and Theophanes

help of the empress [Irene], who was greatly touched by this con-
duct, Theophanes set up his wife in a convent on the island of
Prinkipos,” while he himself was tonsured at a distance, on the
island of Kalonymos,” at the hands of a famous monk called
Theodore the 'One-armed’. He was placed under a superior, on
whose death he assumed the direction of the establishment. He
then moved to the slopes of Mount Sigriane,? where he estab-
lished an excellent monastery, 'whose charm has to be seen to be
believed’. There he devoted himself to monastic discipline, includ-
ing the copying of books. If, even so, he remained portly
{trX-qOajpLKos), that was due to his physical constitution and kindly
nature. Later on, after a long illness, he became as thin as a skele-
ton. Among his other virtues he had the gift of doctrine
(SoyjuartKos), in spite of his lack of formal education. He main-
tained the ancient custom of visiting and consulting other monks,
a practice that has now been abandoned. His baptismal name was
Theophanes, but he was usually called by his father's name,
namely Isaakios. He experienced difficulties and disquiet with
regard to his sister {rrjs aSeX4>rjs), who neglected her monastic
duties. He wrote her letters of admonition, but refused to see her.’*

The biggest of the Princes’ Islands, modern Buyiikada. The nunnery of Prinkipos
is said to have been founded by the empress Irene, who was herself interned in it (802,).
SeeE. Mamboury, EO 19 (1920), 200-9; Janin, Grands centres, 69. Add V. Irenes, 25-7,
with the mention of her tomb there. On this document, which is heavily dependent
on Theoph., see W. T. Treadgold, ByzF 8 (1982], 237-51.

* Ancient Besbikos, modern Imrali adasi. Described by F. W. Hasluck, ABSA 13
(1906-7), 301 ff. The monastery of the Metamorphosis (Transfiguration), visited by
Hasluck, may have been the one founded by Theophanes. Its church retained its orig-
inal opus sectile pavement in Hasluck's time: see his fig. 11.

°° Modern Karadag, east of Bandirma. For a discussion of this area and its monas-
teries, including Megas Agros, see C. Mango and IJ. Sevcenko, DOP 27 (1973), 248 ff.

“ Tt is not clear to us whether 'sister' ought to be understood literally or with ref-
erence to Megalo as being Theophanes' sister in religion. A nun called Maria, to
whom Theodore the Studite wrote a letter in 818 [Ep. 396) is described by him as being
‘of the same flesh' as Theophanes. We learn from the letter that Maria had taken the
unusual step of wearing secular costume in order to escape persecution, no doubt at
the hands of iconoclasts. She seems to have bete a member, along with Megalo, of the
Prinkipos nunnery, seeing that the Studite on two occasions wrote to them jointly
{Epp. 292, 323). If Maria was indeed Theophanes' sister, it is certainly odd that in Ep.
323.40 the Studite should exhort the two women not to betray the faith, ws ii<eivov
ovre? [for ouov-i_ ... 7) jj.cv ofio’vyos, 1) Se rfjs 6jj.ol.vyov 6/.io-tuoji’. The word o/uu uoji’
(blood relative) suggests that Maria was related to Megalo rather than to Theophanes.
The Vita BHG 1789 (ed. dB, ii. 8) preserves a story that Megalo indulged in rather
bizarre behaviour, deliberately selling herself into slavery and, on being recognized,
running away, furthermore that she accomplished feats of asceticism on the islands
of both Prinkipos and Kalonymos. If there is any truth in this report, we may well
imagine that Theophanes would have been highly embarrassed by such excesses

xlv

Introduction

In the Moichian affair’ he did not choose to suffer for the right
cause. Like a hunter, however, who has once missed his prey out
of thoughtlessness /afiovXia), he became all the more resolute in
the face of a second and more serious trial.

After the accession of the impious Leo the Armenian, a wicked
gathering was assembled” to confirm the former false council [ie.
the iconoclastic council of Hiereia, AD 754]. This led to a resump-
tion of iconoclastic excesses, including bloodshed, imprisonment,
and the flight of holy men to deserted places and mountains.
Resistance was offered by the patriarch [Nikephoros], bishops,
priests, and monks, among them our Theophanes. The latter,
being bedridden on account of a wasting disease of the kidneys
[KXLvr/prjs cov e/c vt(f)piTiKov nadovs /cat /xapaa/jLov), was unable
to take part in the struggle at Constantinople. Instead, he sum-
moned to his presence the abbots of nearby and distant monaster-
ies of Bithynia (for he commanded great respect) and exhorted
them to take up the good fight.

On the nativity of St John the Baptist [24 June 8is] arrests were
made among the congregation attending the liturgy in church.”
Some persons were brought before the emperor and seduced from
the right path after experiencing prison. Somewhat later Theo-
phanes, too, was brought to Constantinople in a litter (em
OKi/xnoSos) on account of his illness. Unwilling to face him, the
emperor delivered him into the custody of the impious John [the
Grammarian, later patriarch], who was to interrogate him on mat-
ters of theology. Among the questions asked was the following:
‘Whilst Christ's body was in the tomb, where was His divinity?’
To which Theophanes replied, 'The divinity is everywhere, O
enemy of God, except in your heart.’ After this riposte, which

(hence the letters of admonition) and may even have been prejudiced on account of
his troublesome wife against the empress Irene. On the other hand, BHG 1789 is not
a reliable document, and we are not reassured by its author's statement that 'part of
her [Megalo's] accomplishments are related for the reader's benefit in the work by the
most holy Patriarch Methodios concerning both her and the blessed man’. There is,
of course, nothing of the kind in the preserved Vita by Methodios, analysed below.

® i.e. the scandal caused by the ‘adulterous’ second marriage of Constantine VI in
795. See P. Henry, JTS NS 20 (1969), 495-522. The Studite was the most vociferous of
the young emperor's critics and probably never forgave Theophanes for having fol-
lowed what he saw as an unprincipled course.

7 We are not told in which church this incident took place. The synaxis of 24 June
was normally celebrated in the martyrium of St John in the district of Sphorakios,
near Hagia Sophia: Mateos, Typicon, i. 318; Syn. CP 767.

xlvi

George Synkellos and Theophanes

angered the emperor, Theophanes was moved to a more secure
place of detention where, in spite of his unbearable illness, he
remained steadfast for a period of two years. He was then exiled to
Samothrace and survived 22 days after his arrival on the island. He
had been a monk forty years and had lived a total of sixty [in round
numbers]. The translation of his body [i.e. to his own monastery]
had to be postponed until after the emperor's murder [25 Dec.
820]. After alluding to a number of posthumous miracles, the
encomiast concludes with a prayer on behalf of the monastic com-
munity and its abbot, whom Theophanes had trained and desig-
nated as his successor.”®

Now for the Vita by Methodios:

The Saint's parents were Isaakios and Theodote. He inherited his
father's name not because he had been so called at baptism—his
real name being Theophanes—but because of the attachment to
his father shown by the tyrant Constantine [the emperor
Constantine V]. His father died while holding the command of the
Aegean Sea’? when the Saint was 3 years old. He was educated by
his mother (cc. 4-5). At the age of 10 he was engaged to Megalo,
then aged 8, not through the offices of an intermediary, but by a
contract drawn up between their respective parents, both parties
being extremely rich. He grew up and followed the normal pur-
suits of a young man. He was especially fond of riding and hunt-
ing, which blunted in his mind the sting of his passions (c. 6). He
became friendly with one of his servants, a goldsmith named
Prandios, who urged him to become a monk (c. 7).

When he had reached his 18th year and grown into a handsome
young man, his mother insisted that he marry, an arrangement to
which he did not object from a sense of obedience (cc. 8-9). While
preparations for his wedding were going forward, his mother died.
To console him, the emperor Leo [IV, 775-80] gave him the rank
of imperial strator (c. 10). When the prescribed period of mourning

8 Possibly the abbot Stephen, who is the addressee of the Studite's Ep. 487. The

Vita by Methodios was also composed at the request of a man called Stephen, hence
probably the second abbot of Agros (c. 1: KeAevodeis ttapa. rrfs arjs ayatrr)s,
aTitj>wvvjj.i). Cf. S. Efthymiadis, AnBoll in (1993), 264-5.

i.e. he was drungarius of the Aegean Sea. On this office see A. Pertusi on
Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Them. 154-5; H. Antoniadis-Bibicou, Etudes de
histoire maritime de Byzance (Paris, 1966), 85, 96-7; Ahrweiler, Mer, 76 ff. The
name Isaakios being very uncommon among laymen, one may wonder whether
Theophanes' father was not the same as the Isaakios, comes and kommerkiarios, of
whom there exists an 8th-cent. seal: J.-C. Cheynet, C. Morrisson, and W. Seibt, Les
Sceaux byzantins de la collection H. Seyiig (Paris, 1991), no. 151.

xlvii

Introduction

had ended, his prospective father-in-law”° pressed him to proceed
with the wedding, which took place with the usual celebrations.
The Saint, however, informed his bride of his intention of aban-
doning the world after they had performed their conjugal duty. She
agreed to this arrangement (cc. 11-12). The emperor Leo, egged on
by the Saint's father-in-law, threatened to blind Theophanes if the
latter chose to become a monk. To keep him busy, he dispatched
him to supervise the construction of the fort of Kyzikos, which
mission the Saint accomplished at his own expense (c. 15). On
his way to Kyzikos he stopped at Mount Sigriane, where he met an
old monk named Gregory and revealed to him his designs. Gregory
assured him that he did not have to take drastic action, since both
the emperor and his father-in-law would soon die (c. 16). The
prophecy was fulfilled in his 21st year (c. 19).

In the reign of Irene the couple started selling their possessions
and manumitting their slaves (c. 20). Theophanes set up his wife
in the convent of Prinkipos, to which he made suitable bene-
factions. He himself became a monk in the monastery of
Polichnion™ at Mount Sigriane, which was his own property
{TrpoaoTeiov). He and his wife (now renamed Irene) agreed not to
see each other any more (c 21). Theophanes made a gift of
Polichnion to its abbot Strategios, who had acted as his sponsor
when he embraced the monastic life. He then moved to the island
of Kalonymos, where he built at his own expense a monastery on
a property he had inherited. He gathered a community from the
monastery of Theodore the 'One-armed' and appointed the most
experienced of them abbot. On the latter's death the brethren
urged him to become their head, but he refused and earned his
livelihood by practising the art of calligraphy in which he had not
been instructed. By dint of much patience he acquired skill in
spelling and accentuation (c. 22).

Having spent six years on Kalonymos, he returned to Sigriane
and joined the monastery of one Christopher (c. 23). A neighbour-
ing farmer was selling a plot of land called Agros. Taking advan-

*° Vita BHG 1789, ed. dB, ii. 4. 29, alleges that he was a patrician called Leo, 'most
barbarous and beastlike in his manner' and an iconoclast to boot. This conflicts with
the Studite's statement that Megalo was born of pious parents (Ep. 292. 13, assuming
the letter in question was indeed addressed to Megalo and Maria).

* The designation kastron often replaces in the Dark Ages that of 'city'. We thus
hear of the kastron of Ephesos, Cherson, etc. Vita BHG 1789, p. 8. 17, states that after
accomplishing this mission Theophanes was promoted to the rank of spatharios.

* 10 km. (6 miles) from Agros. See Mango and Sevcenko (as in n. 13), 268-70. St
Methodios, the apostle of the Slavs, was later abbot of Polichnion.

xlviii

George Synkellos and Theophanes

tage of a neighbour's right of pre-emption, ? Theophanes decided
to buy Agros, although he had no money left and his relatives
refused to lend him any. Some monks managed to raise a loan and
the property was acquired for 2 Ibs. of gold (c. 24). Theophanes
attended the Seventh ecumenical Council [787] (c. 27). Some time
later he was able to expand his monastery. He gathered monks
from various places (c. 28) and a church was constructed (c. 33).

The Saint reaches his seventh ‘age’, i.e. 42 plus [each ‘age’ being
seven years]. The emperor Nikephoros [802-11] is praised. The
emperors Staurakios [26 July-2 Oct. 811] and Michael [I, 2 Oct.
811-10 July 813] are praised. Theophanes reaches the age of 49 (c. 42).

In his 50th year Theophanes fell ill with kidney stones (c. 43)
and remained bedridden to the end of his life (c. 44). When he was
in his 53rd year, the impious Leo [V, 10 July 813-24 Dec. 820]
seized the throne (c. 45). In spite of his painful illness, Theophanes
was summoned to the capital and offered various favours on con-
dition he followed the emperor's religious policy, but he stood
firm (c. 46). He was handed over to the ‘magician’ John [the
Grammarian] and kept for a time in the monastery of Rormisdas™*
(c. 47), but was then transferred to a small cell in the palace of
Eleutherios,”* where he remainedunder guard for two years (c. 48).
To break his obduracy the emperor exiled him to Samothrace (c.
50), but he died 23 days after his arrival there (c. 54) on 12 March
(c. 55). His body was placed in a wooden coffin (c. 56) and began to
work miracles. After the accession of Michael [II, 25 Dec. 820] the
Saint's disciples transferred his body to Hiereia,”° a domain twelve
miles distant from the monastery of Agros. This took place during
Holy Week. A throng of sick and possessed people from the sur-
rounding countryside converged on Hiereia and many of them
were cured (c. 57). The body remained at Hiereia for a whole year.
In spite of popular opposition, it was then transferred to Agros and
buried on the right side of the church (c. 58).

The reader will have noticed a few minor divergences between the
two accounts. Theodore implies, without actually saying so, that

*3 On which see N. Svoronos, Les Novelles des empeieuis macedoniens (Athens,
1994), 13 ff.

*4 Of which John the Grammarian was abbot. On the monastery, situated next to
the Imperial Palace, see Janin, Eglises, 451-4; C. Mango, BZ 68 (1975), 385-92.

* Built by the empress Irene, whose favourite residence it was. See Janin, CP, 131,
348. Situated at modern Aksaray, close to the monastery of Myrelaion (Bodrum
Camii).

*4 See Mango and Sevcenko (as inn. 13), 262, 271. Not to be confused with Hiereia
near Chalcedon.

xlix

Introduction

Theophanes' father Isaakios died not when the boy was 3, but some
time before his marriage. He states that Theophanes was tonsured
on the island of Kalonymos, whereas Methodios has this event take
place on Mount Sigriane. Furthermore, Theodore affirms that
Theophanes was made abbot of the monastery of Kalonymos,
whereas, according to Methodios, he declined that post. It is difficult
to decide which of the two biographers is the more trustworthy.
Theodore may have the stronger claim on our credence, since he was
at one time closely associated with the Saint, was nearly of the same
age (having been born in 759), and was actually his spiritual son in
the sense that Theophanes had acted as sponsor (avaSoxo?) when
Theodore embraced the monastic life. On the other hand, the two
men later drifted into opposite camps in the rumpus following the
emperor Constantine's ‘adulterous’ marriage and probably did not
keep in touch. The Studite, a desperately busy man, may well have
confused his memories.” As for Methodios, it is not explicitly
stated that he knew Theophanes personally, although this is highly
likely seeing that he was abbot of a Bithynian monastery before
815."

Setting aside the rather minor disagreements we have noted, the
two accounts are reasonably concordant. The chronology of the
Saint's life, as given by Methodios, is also quite consistent. Since he
was in his 21st year when Leo IV died (8 Sept. 780), he must have
been born in 760 or late in 759. This agrees with the statement that
he reached his 'seventh age’ on the accession of Nikephoros I and
that he was in his 53rd year on the accession of Leo V. The only dis-
cordant indication is that he reached the age of 49 in the reign of
Staurakios or that of Michael I (811-13). The date of his death has
been reliably fixed in 818.*? Accepting 759-60 as the date of his
birth, we may draw up the following table:

762/3 Isaakios dies

769/70 Engaged to Megalo

777/8 Theodote dies,- Theophanes made strator

778/9 Theophanes marries; rebuilds fort of Kyzikos

780/81 Theophanes and Megalo embrace the monastic
life

*7 On the relations between Theodore the Studite and Theophanes see J. Pargoire,
VizVrem g (1902), 31 ff.

8 On his career see J. Pargoire, EO 6 (1903), 127-31, 183-91; V. Laurent, DTC x/2
(1929), 1597-1606; D. Stiernon, DSp x/2 (1979), 1107-9; J. Gouillard, TM 10 (1987),
11-16.

*9 C. Van de Vorst, AnBoll 31 (1912), 148 ff., was mistaken in arguing that
Theophanes died in 817, a date that has been repeated by many later scholars.

George Synkellos and Theophanes

780/1-786/7 On Kalonymos; moves to Sigriane and acquires
Agros

787 Attends Seventh Ecumenical Council

809/10 Falls ill with kidney stones

8is, after 24 June Summoned to Constantinople
Spends (nearly) two years in palace of

Eleutherios
818, 18 Feb. Arrives on Samothrace
818, 12 Mar. Dies
821, 17-23 Mar. Body arrives at Hiereia
822, Mar. Body buried at Agros

The two biographies are also in broad agreement as regards the
Saint's personality, which emerges more vividly than it does in the
majority of other Byzantine saints’ Lives of that period. Theophanes
is represented as a grand seigneur, addicted to sport in his youth,
handsome and even portly in appearance. He was easygoing, a gen-
erous host (Vita, c. 38) and, even as a monk, not averse to taking the
waters at a fashionable spa, probably that of Prousa (c. 34). By con-
trast with many contemporary monks who travelled fairly widely,*®
Theophanes is not known to have moved beyond the orbit of
Constantinople and Bithynia. Theodore openly says that he lacked
proper education. His labours as a calligrapher must have been dic-
tated by a monk's obligation to take up manual work (epyo“eipov),
but we are given to understand that he learnt this craft, including
correct spelling, so to speak on the job. In sum, Theophanes is not
portrayed as a scholar; and while the absence of any allusion to the
composition of the Chronicle in both biographies is not altogether
surprising,” there is an undeniable discrepancy between the Saint's
character and the attributes one would expect in the compiler of a
massive work of historiography and computation. Indeed, if the
author's identity had not been stated in the title and corroborated by
later testimony,” one might have been tempted to suggest that the

3° See E. Malamut, Sur la route des saints byzantins (Paris, 1993), passim.

As not being strictly relevant to the traditional concerns of hagiography. A con-
temporary parallel is provided by St Michael Synkellos, a scholar and author of some
importance. Apart from mentioning his comprehensive education and his (lost] epis-
tles, his Life (ed. Cunningham, 44-8) is silent about his literary endeavours.
Theophanes has sometimes been credited with the composition of a satirical poem
concerning a meeting between Leo V and an iconoclast monk. The author of this lost
work, mentioned by Genesios, I. 3, was probably Theophanes Graptos. Cf. S. I.
Kourouses, EEBS 44 (1979/80), 436 f.

Esp. the intitulation in Anast. 77, Abhinc Hisaacius, qui et Theophanes.

Introduction

Chronicle was due to another Theophanes, not the Confessor and
abbot of Agros.”

Il. THE CHRONICLE AND ITS AUTHORSHIP

The combined chronicles of Synkellos and Theophanes fill about
1,200 printed pages and represent the most ambitious effort of
Byzantine historiography with a view to offering a systematic
account of the human past. Indeed, with regard to Theophanes, the
most striking characteristic of his Chronicle is that it embraces not
only the annals of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, but also those of
the Christian East under Muslim domination. Theophanes was able
to do so because he had at his disposal an eastern, ie. Syro-
Palestinian source (on which see Section IV. 14); but the availability
of that source, even if it conveniently filled many gaps in the
Byzantine record, does not explain the extensive use made of it. We
must assume that Theophanes (if he was indeed the author) was
deeply interested in the affairs of the Arabs and their Christian sub-
jects and anxious to incorporate them within the summa of human
history. No other Byzantine chronicler showed such an interest or
such a breadth of vision.

In terms of structure, the work of Theophanes rests on a chrono-
logical armature that combines the data of both secular and ecclesi-
astical history, precisely anchored with regard to an absolute
computation, namely the annus mundi. It can, therefore, be viewed
as one of the numerous descendants of the Chronicon of Eusebios
and is, in fact, as regards the Greek-speaking world, the last in that
tradition. If we glance at subsequent developments, we find that the
extensive narrative chronicle (henceforth using Theophanes as one
of its main constituents) continued to be produced, from George the
Monk in the second half of the ninth century** to Theodore
Skoutariotes in the thirteenth, but that it shed the rigid chronologi-
cal structure, which evidently ceased to be of interest. A somewhat
different need was served by the kind of handbook represented by
the Chronographikon syntomon attributed to the patriarch
Nikephoros, which consists almost entirely of lists of names from
Adam downwards, with a period of time marked against each name,

33 Since writing the above we have received the study by P. Speck, 'Der "zweite"
Theophanes', Poikila Byzantina, 13 (1994), 431-83, in which he argues precisely that
the Chronicle is due to the labours of a second Theophanes, a monk and also abbot of
Agros, who lived later in the 9th cent. We are reluctant to admit this intriguing the-
ory, which necessitates a good deal of unprovable speculation.

34 After 871 according to A. Markopoulos, ZvfxfxtiiKTa, 6 (1985), 223-31.

lii

» The Chronicle and its Authorship

but with no synchronization and no narrative element. This short
work, of which more will be said later, continued to circulate widely
and was periodically brought up to date as regards Byzantine emper-
ors and empresses and the patriarchs of Constantinople. The
Eusebian vision of a universal history, both sacred and secular, flow-
ing in parallel columns over a horizontal grid of years was thus aban-
doned. From the ninth century onwards the Byzantines were
interested only in their own affairs, which they saw no need to place
in a wider contemporary context.

The Chronicle of Theophanes, therefore, in spite of the enormous
influence it exerted as a narrative source in both East and West, was
not a harbinger of things to come. In its concept it was decidedly old-
fashioned. Curiously enough, however, when we look for its prede-
cessors in the Greek world, we are hard put to name any strictly
comparable work. Only two universal Byzantine chronicles earlier
than Synkellos/Theophanes are available to us, namely Malalas and
the Chronicon Paschale. Malalas (assuming that the complete text
was in this respect similar to the abridgement which alone has sur-
vived) has no chronological skeleton. He gives dates here and there
using different systems (era of Antioch, annus mundi, indictions,
regnal years, consulships), but these are inserted into the narrative,
which is not broken up into chronological units, nor is much
account taken of ecclesiastical chronology.*? By contrast with
Malalas, the Paschal Chronicle, composed in c.630 with the avowed
purpose of validating the correctness of certain liturgical commem-
orations,*° lays much greater emphasis on chronology at the expense
of narrative. Within the sequence of Olympiads each year is intro-
duced individually by a triple entry (indiction, regnal year, consul-
ship), but many years are blank, that is they do not record any event.
The annus mundi is given only for the end of each reign or certain
events of particular importance, and there are further synchronisms
here and there, for example for ecumenical councils (from the
Ascension of Christ), the dedication of Constantinople, etc. The
tenure of bishops is indicated only occasionally and that of the
Persian kings not at all. The Paschal Chronicle offers, therefore, a
somewhat better precedent than Malalas, but it is unlikely that
Theophanes had access to it (see below, p. Ixxx). The fact that the
patriarch Nikephoros also made no use of the Paschal Chronicle in
his Short History and that it does not appear in the Bibliotheca of

% See E. Jeffreys in Mai. Studies, 138 ff.

3° Cf. J. Beaucamp et al, TM 7 (1979), 223-301; eidem in Le Temps Chretien,
Colloques internat. du CNRS, 604 (Paris, 1984), 451-68; M. and M. Whitby,
Chronicon Paschale, 284-628 AD (Liverpool, 1989), ix-xand index 4, s.v. dates.

liii

Introduction

Photios suggests that it was not readily available at Constantinople
in c. AD 800.

If we extend our search to works that are lost or preserved only in
fragments, we fail to find any promising leads. There is no reason to
suppose that the Chronicle of John of Antioch had synchronic
rubrics. The patrician Trajan, as we shall see presently, is probably
to be eliminated from consideration and the 'Great Chronographer'
certainly so. We are left, therefore, with the lost chronicle(s) cover-
ing the years 668-769 (the common source of Nikephoros and
Theophanes), which appears to have been a Constantinopolitan
product of limited scope. In sum, there was nothing in the Greek tra-
dition, as far as we know it, that could have provided Theophanes
with a sufficiently close model of the vast work he undertook.

One way out of the difficulty would be to suppose that Theo-
phanes was a ‘renaissance man’, who deliberately reached back to
the world of late Antiquity and decided to combine the Eusebian tra-
dition of chronography with the extended narrative of a Malalas. The
portrait of Theophanes, as it emerges from his biographical notices,
makes him a very unlikely candidate for such a role. Besides, is there
any reason to suppose that the Eusebian tradition—setting aside the
Paschal Chronicle which we have already mentioned—had survived
at Constantinople? Eusebios' Chronicon does not appear to have
been available in the capital at that time and neither Annianus nor
Panodoros is included in Photios' Bibliotheca.” So for Theophanes
let us substitute Synkellos and see if the cap fits him better.
Synkellos certainly knew and used both Annianus and Panodoros,
whom he may have encountered in Palestine rather than at
Constantinople. He would, therefore, have been acquainted with the
kind of chronological ‘canon’ that these authors had employed—a
table of synchronisms placed, perhaps, in the middle of the page
rather than along its margins as in Eusebios.** But then he might
also have had knowledge of Syriac chronography which, unlike the
Greek, had continued the Eusebian legacy right through the Dark
Ages and which exhibits, mutatis mutandis, the same features we
find in Theophanes.”? It is enough to recall Jacob of Edessa (d. 708),
his younger contemporary John of Litarba, and the several other

37 The only work of this kind reviewed by Photios is the pre-Eusebian Africanus,
Bibl., cod. 34.

38 The change in format, reflected in the Armenian version of Eusebios, is plausi-
bly ascribed to Panodoros by A. A. Mosshammer, The Chronicle of Eusebius and
Greek Chronographic Tradition (Lewisburg, Pa., 1979), 74 ff.

39 See, amongst others, W. Witakowski, The Syriac Chronicle of Pseudo-Dionysius
of Tel-Mahre (Uppsala, 1987), 76 ff.; R. Hoyland in Palmer, Seventh Century, xxv f.

liv

The Chronicle and its Authorship

names down to Theophilos of Edessa (d. 785) which are mentioned
by Dionysios of Tel-Mahre (cf. below, p. Ixxxiii). The Chronicle of
pseudo-Dionysios of 775, though a somewhat provincial offshoot, is
also a work of considerable scope, falling within the same genre.

If the immediate inspiration for 'Theophanes' was provided by
Syriac chronography in the absence of any pertinent Greek models,
the role of Synkellos assumes greater importance. We can now say
that he originated the concept and plan of the Chronicle on the anal-
ogy of similar work done by contemporary Christian scholars under
Arab rule. The Chronicle ceases to be a unicum and assumes its nat-
ural place within a continuing tradition. In fact, in his Preface,
Theophanes does not claim for himself any other part than that of
George's executor and continuator. He openly says that George had
provided him with the materials (acfop/uat) for completing the work.
The only question that presents itself is what contribution
Theophanes himself made to the Chronicle that bears his name; or,
to put it in another way, whether the Chronicle is much more than
the file of extracts compiled by Synkellos. If we read the Preface
carefully, we find that Theophanes makes in it the following state-
ments: (i) That he himself went to considerable trouble in seeking
out ‘many books' for his research; (ii) That he was particularly con-
cerned with chronology; (iii) That he composed nothing on his own
(ouSev a<f eavrdiv awrd‘avres), but drew all his matter from
ancient historians. The final statement,*® taken literally, would
imply that even the final portion of the Chronicle was not written
by Theophanes himself, although the reference to ancient historians
would be inappropriate in this context.

In the long run it does not particularly matter how much of the
scissors and paste job was done by George and how much by
Theophanes or some anonymous amanuensis. Since the entire doc-
umentation on which the Chronicle is based can be estimated at
about 20 ‘sources’, the number of books involved was not, in any
case, very great. What is of more consequence is to determine, in so
far as this is possible, whether the final section of the Chronicle,
devoted to events that both men might have witnessed personally
(say from 780 to the end) represents the work and the views of one
or the other of the two collaborators.

The chronicler's political stance may be described as follows.
While applauding the restoration of icons, championed by the
empress Irene, he is by no means uncritical in assessing her actions.

4 Admittedly, this is a cliche. Cf. Alex. Mon. (a source used by Theophanes),
4016B: epovi.iev t'Stov ovSev . . . ooa Se apxacajy toropiaiv io'xvoaf’v evpzlv,
etc.

Introduction

Blame, where blame is due, is laid largely on her eunuch ministers,
Staurakios and Aetios, both of whom are presented in a very adverse
light; and though female weakness is invoked as an extenuating cir-
cumstance, Irene is openly described as ambitious and, by implica-
tion, as devious. She plots against her son, uses the Studites as a tool
in her power game and, at a critical moment, is ready to betray her
friends. The blinding of Constantine VI is not excused: it is pre-
sented as cruel and wicked, a judgement that was evidently shared
by God, who caused an eclipse of the sun to occur on that fateful day.

The chronicler's attitude towards the young emperor Constantine
is considerably more sympathetic. The latter's aversion to his first
wife Maria is ascribed to his mother's machinations and, while his
second marriage to Theodote is called ‘illegal’, we are not offered
the expected tirade against adultery. In the chronicler's eyes
Constantine was very capable and we are given to surmise that he
would have made a good emperor had he not been constantly frus-
trated and sabotaged by his mother and her friends.

The emperor Nikephoros | is presented as a monster of iniquity
without a single redeeming feature. His chief vice, to which he
is completely subservient, is avarice. He is also a dissimulator,
cruel, lewd, a heretic, and a magician. No other emperor in the
whole Chroriicle, with the possible exception of the iconoclast
Constantine V, is painted in such black colours. Nikephoros' son
Staurakios is described as an incompetent weakling who inherited a
large share of his father's perversity.

Michael I is pious, generous, and magnanimous and, on occasion,
quick to act, but too easily swayed by his evil counsellors and, ulti-
mately, incapable of managing the Empire's affairs.

The surprise comes at the very end: Leo V who, by Christmas 814,
was to throw off his mask and espouse iconoclasm, who in later
Byzantine historiography (and already in the Scriptor incertus de
Leone)” is portrayed as a cruel tyrant, a ‘roaring lion’, and an
uncouth barbarian, whom Theodore the Studite already so stigma-
tized in his encomium of Theophanes, appears in our Chronicle in
an entirely positive light. He is orthodox, loyal to his emperor, and
scrupulous in observing his duty. His sound advice in the conduct of
the Bulgarian war is frustrated by certain evil advisers. Being alone
able to save the situation, he is, against his own wishes and quite
legitimately, raised to the imperial office.

® 335—62.. The uncomplimentary portrait of Leo V found in pseudo-Symeon, Bonn
edn., along with Theophanes continuatus, 603, derives from the same source, as
shown by J. B. Bury, BZ 1 (1892), 572-4.

Ivi

» The Chronicle and its Authorship

In Church politics our chronicler is unreservedly on the side of the
patriarchs Tarasios and Nikephoros, while being openly hostile to
the Studites. The latter are blamed for starting a schism, even if they
were manipulated by the empress Irene; they are soft on heresy (with
allegedly disastrous results); and are made responsible for the
Bulgarian disaster, which might have been averted if wiser counsels
had prevailed. The modern reader may be dismayed by the chroni-
cler's advocacy of the death penalty for Paulicians and other
heretics” and his rejection (with the help of scriptural authority!) of
the Studite argument that the Church ought to convert those in
error, not kill them.

Such are the political clues offered in the latter part of the
Chronicle, and they lead to the reasonably certain conclusion that
the narrative was completed before the end of 814, when Leo V dis-
closed his attachment to Iconoclasm; for it is difficult to imagine
that Theophanes, who in 815 was rallying support against govern-
ment policy and, the following year, was himself bundled off to
Constantinople, ailing as he was, and subjected to confinement and
're-indoctrination’, would have portrayed his persecutor (and that of
his patriarch) quite as favourably as he did had he been writingunder
threat of reprisal or in his prison cell. Even if the palace of
Eleutherios was a comparatively comfortable place of detention, we
are specifically told (Vita, c. 48) that Theophanes was kept under
guard in a tiny room and deprived of servants except for one atten-
dant [KaraKXelaas iv apuKpoTartp oli<r)i.LaTi /cat | KaTaarqaas
<fepovpovs aovyxuipT)TA cos /xrjSe SiaKoveiadai irapa tw) It is true
that Methodios managed to write the Life of Euthymios of Sardis
while undergoing even harsher confinement, but he was a younger
and more vigorous man,- besides, the composition of a historical
work requires not only pen and paper but also an apparatus of refer-
ence works. The difficulty disappears if we suppose that Theophanes
laid down his pen in the autumn of 813 or in 814, soon after the fall
of Adrianople.** Leo, whatever the exact circumstances of his eleva-
tion,** had saved the Empire and there was, as yet, no reason to sus-
pect his orthodoxy. We may further note that the Chronicle comes
to a very abrupt end and displays so many signs of carelessness (see
p. lxiif.) that it could hardly have been subjected to a final revision.

As for the other political clues, it is not easy to determine whether

*” Cf. Alexander, Nicephorus, 99; Th. Korres, Bv‘avnvd, 10 (1980), 203-15.

® We do not understand why Bury, ERE, 354 n. 3, thinks that Theophanes was
writing 'these pages in the first years of Leo's reign’.

“ Bury's careful analysis, ibid. 352, leads to the conclusion that the defeat at
Versinikia was due to Leo's treachery.

Ivii

Introduction

they point to Synkellos or Theophanes because, in so far as we
know, both men held pretty much the same position. In the case of
Synkellos, all we can reasonably surmise is that he was loyal to the
patriarch Tarasios and would, therefore, have been critical of the
Studites, who seceded from Tarasios and caused him considerable
embarrassment. We would also expect Synkellos to have been
favourable to the patriarch Nikephoros, who stood in the same tra-
dition as his predecessor. Theophanes, too, followed the 'moderate’,
i.e. anti-Studite line with regard to the ‘adulterous marriage’. Being
himself the spiritual father of Theodore the Studite, he might per-
haps have hesitated to criticize the latter quite as harshly as our
chronicler does, but that is not an argument we would care to press.

Rather more puzzling is the chronicler's pathological hatred of the
emperor Nikephoros. In the case of Theophanes no reason for it can
be discerned other than the emperor's fiscal policy, which was dis-
advantageous to monasteries. What is also odd is that Methodios in
his Life of Theophanes (c. 41) lavishes fulsome praise on that very
emperor—a tactless tribute if Theophanes was known to have held
Nikephoros in such deep detestation.* In the case of Synkellos a
better motive may perhaps be found; for in February 808, when the
conspiracy of the patrician Arsaber was discovered, the emperor
‘punished with lashes, banishment, and confiscation not only secu-
lar dignitaries, but also holy bishops and monks and the clergy of the
Great Church, including the synkellos, the sakellarios, and the
chartophylax, men of high repute and worthy of respect’ (p. 664).
Even if the synkellos who was so punished was not George, but his
successor, the emperor's retribution fell on George's friends and col-
leagues in the patriarchal clergy.

In three cases the chronicler adds what appears to be a personal
recollection told in the first person. In describing the winter of
763/4, when the Black Sea and the Bosporus froze, he recalls that he
himself, along with about thirty playmates, climbed on one of the
icebergs that had floated down to Constantinople and adds, 'Some of
my wild and tame animals died’ (p. 601). It is hard to believe that
Theophanes, who was 4 years old at the time and the only child of a
rich widowed mother, would have been allowed such hazardous play
or that he kept wild animals for his amusement at such a tender age.
The recollection would fit better a boy of about 10 or 12. If it is due
to Synkellos, we would have to admit that he, too, was raised at

*® It may be noted that hagiographic literature is uniformly favourable to
Nikephoros, except the Life of Euthymios of Sardis, likewise by Methodios, ed. J.
Gouillard, TM 10 (1987), 2,7.77 ff-, but even the latter text calls him ‘orthodox and of
good repute’.

Iviii

» The Chronicle and its Authorship

Constantinople (which is by no means impossible) before going to
Palestine. Alternatively, it could have been found in the common
source of Theophanes and Nikephoros (c. 74) or been added by an
early scholiast who was a few years older than Theophanes.

The second case concerns the translation of the relics of St
Euphemia to Constantinople in 796: ‘Twenty-two years after the
criminal's death [referring to Constantine V] I myself saw this won-
derful and memorable miracle in the company of the most pious
emperors and Tarasios the most holy patriarch and, along with them
I kissed [the relics], unworthy as I was to have been granted so signal
a grace’ (p. 607). It is quite possible that Theophanes, along with
other abbots, would have been invited to witness the ceremony, but
there can be no doubt that George Synkellos was a member of the
‘reception committee’.

The third case is rather more instructive. As Nikephoros I was set-
ting out on his Bulgarian campaign in May (?) 811, he ordered the
Treasury to raise the taxes levied on churches and monasteries and
to exact tax arrears from dignitaries. The bad timing of these mea-
sures was pointed out to him by the patrician Theodosios Salibaras,
but the emperor replied, 'If God has hardened my heart,’ etc. (p. 672).
Whereupon the chronicler adds, 'The Lord is my witness that I, the
author, heard these very words from the mouth of Theodosios.’ The
army proceeded to the frontier fort of Markellai, where it spent some
time, entered Bulgaria on 20 July and was destroyed on the 26th,
Theodosios being one of the victims. There is, it is true, some dis-
agreement about the dates in our sources.*°® In the Greek manu-
scripts of Theophanes the exact departure date from Constantinople
has dropped out, rij * tov Maxov [mvos riowcov in the Oxford MS),
which Anastasius renders by ‘Iulio mense’ (by mistake?). The
anonymous 'Chronicle of 811' (or 'Dujcev fragment’) says twice that
Nikephoros spent fifteen days in Bulgaria and was defeated on
Saturday, 23 July, which must be emended to 26 July (the 23rd hav-
ing been a Thursday). Whatever may be the solution of this little
puzzle, it is hard to believe that Salibaras, who was travelling with
the army in the direction of Markellai, would have taken a side trip
across the Sea of Marmara to Megas Agros so as to confer with
Theophanes, who (if it is he) regarded him with detestation.
Whoever recorded the actual words of Salibaras was either at
Constantinople or with the marching army.

In his lengthy commentary on the 'Chronicle of 811', I. Dujcev’”

See below, p. 675 n. 8.

4” TM 1 (1965), 205-54 - Medioevo bizantino-slavo, ii (Rome, 1968), 425-89, esp.
447-8.

lix

Introduction

tries to show that Salibaras was not killed by the Bulgarians but
merely captured; that he was then released as was also Peter the
patrician (named among the victims) and, after his return, told
Theophanes the whole story—indeed, Dujcev thinks that the
detailed account of the campaign, clearly due to an eyewitness, was
related by the same Salibaras. This, however, is impossible: whether
Salibaras was or was not killed by the Bulgarians on 26 July,
Theophanes believed that he had perished, as a reading of his text
demonstrates. Besides, we are not at all convinced that Peter the
patrician returned, but that is another story.*® So we are left with the
following possibilities:

(i) Theophanes was at Constantinople in the spring/summer of
811 and had occasion to converse with Salibaras. This is unlikely in
view of Theophanes' illness and his hatred of Salibaras.

(ii) The author in this instance is Synkellos, in which case the
objection of hatred would equally apply to him.

(iii) The account of the Bulgarian campaign was written by a third,
unnamed party, one of the Byzantine survivors, and included in the
Chronicle with little or no change. This is perhaps the easiest solu-
tion.*?

The hand of Synkellos is more clearly apparent in two passages relat-
ing to the disorders in Palestine following the death of Harun al-
Rasid. The first, under AM 6301, is as follows: 'For this reason also
the churches in the holy city of Christ our God [Jerusalem] were
made desolate as well as the monasteries of the two great lavras,
namely that of Sts Chariton and Kyriakos and that of St Sabas, and
the other koinobia, namely those of St Euthymios and St
Theodosios. The slaughter resulting from this anarchy, directed at
each other and against us (/car' aXXrjAwv /cat r/iua>v), lasted five years’
(p. 665). The second passage marks the end of the five-year period of
troubles: 'In the holy city of Christ our God the venerable places of
the holy Resurrection, of Golgotha and the rest were profaned.
Likewise the famous lavras in the desert, that of St Chariton and

8 The tale told of him in Syn. CP 791-4, that he was released from Bulgaria by St
John the Evangelist, spent 34 years on Mt Olympos with St Ioannikios, and finally
returned to Constantinople, where he survived another eight years in the monastery
he had founded earlier, strikes us as a pious fabrication.

4 H. Gregoire's assertion, Byz 11 (1936), 416 ff., that Theophanes in his account of
the Bulgarian expedition draws on the ‘Chronicle of 811' is certainly incorrect
Theophanes may have abbreviated his source; on the other hand, his 'shorthand' ref-
erence to 'the fire in the ditch’ (below, p. 674) may be due to the notoriety of this cir-
cumstance at the time.

The Chronicle and its Authorship

that of St Sabas, and the other monasteries and churches were made
desolate,’ etc. (p. 683).

Two details are worth noting. In both passages the monastery of St
Chariton is mentioned in the first place, before that of St Sabas,
which was, however, the more important and famous establish-
ment. The reason for that, we believe, was that Synkellos had been
himself a monk at St Chariton. The second clue is offered by the
terms ‘they’ (the Arabs) and 'us' (Christians). Now, if we turn to
Synkellos' own Preface, we find in it the following statement:
"Taking the greater part of my material from them [the Bible, the
apocrypha, and the 'more famous historians’], except for a few events
that happened in our own times, I shall attempt to produce a kind of
synopsis ... I mean about the various kings and the number of
priests, prophets, apostles, martyrs, and teachers ... collecting all of
this as best I can from the aforementioned historians; and above all
(inl tt&ol) I shall describe to the best of my ability the God-hated
testament that was set forth against Christ and our nation {TOV
yevovs rjjx<Mv) by the Idumeans in their tabernacles and the
Ishmaelites, who are persecuting the people of the Spirit and are
devising that apostasy which the blessed Paul had prophesied for the
last days [2 Thess. 2: 3]; down to the present year 6300 from the cre-
ation of the world, indiction 1 [AD 808].' This passage indicates not
only that Synkellos had every intention of continuing his narrative
to the year 808 when he was writing those words, but that he
attached particular importance to expounding the misdeeds of the
Arab Muslims ‘against us’. To an emigre from Palestine such feel-
ings would have been perfectly natural. If our argument is accepted,
it may further be deduced that Synkellos was still alive in 813.

How much, if anything, Theophanes contributed to the final part
of the Chronicle remains unclear. We should bear in mind that he
contracted his kidney disease in 8 09/10; all our sources agree that he
remained in extreme discomfort to the end of his life. In the words
of Methodios (Vita, c. 44) he was ‘bedridden and motionless’
[KXtvriprjs re Kat aKLvrjTOs) to such an extent that when he was sum-
moned to the capital he was unable to walk the short distance from
his monastery to the seashore and had to be conveyed to the ship in
a cart.» Theodore the Studite likewise tells us that Theophanes was
so ill he could barely turn in his bed. Under the circumstances the

°° Ed. Mosshammer, 6.

* Vita, c. 46:X'l-fiTj Tjvyj fiXrjdeLs sia to aKLvgrov oXcos xal avenifiajov.

» Ep. 333. 27:iv TOLavrjj vouai, ws eSetos EX"! —_ kXIvtjs orpeifieaOaL.
Cf. Ep. 214. 5: voaov 8eivo7ra8ovs Xtav. Ep. 291. 5: lv voua) xaXenwraTT], KXivriprjs
oXws.

Ixi

Introduction

composition of the Chronicle in the years 810-14 becomes some-
thing of a miracle.*

One further consideration is worth mentioning. It is very unlikely
that the Chronicle was ‘published’ before 842 at the earliest in view
of its strongly anti-iconoclastic stance and we do not know in what
condition it was left by Theophanes (in his monastery in 815?) or
how much editorial tampering it later underwent. One lengthy
excursus (AM 6177), composed, it seems, after 806, presents in force-
ful language a chronological argument against the iconodule posi-
tion. It was presumably found among Theophanes’ materials and
included in the text by an absent-minded editor before the constitu-
tion of the version that Anastasius had before him. As we shall
presently see, the text of the Chronicle does not appear to have been
stable in the ninth century. If Theophanes left nothing but a boxful
of loose papers, the editor's task would have been a daunting one.
Even so, we cannot help being surprised by the considerable number
of inconsistencies and other signs of carelessness, which a reason-
ably conscientious editor would have tried to eliminate. Here are a
few examples:

1. Disagreement between text and rubric is very common. Thus,
the ordination of Eustathios of Antioch is recorded in AM 5816 when,
according to the rubric, he was already in his 10th year as bishop.
The death of Makarios of Jerusalem is related in AM 5817, but he
remains in the rubrics until 5826. The bishop of Jerusalem in AM
5847 is Cyril in the text but Hilarius in the rubric. Pope Julius of
Rome dies in 5849 and is succeeded by Liberius, but he had already
died in 5837 and Liberius had been ousted and reinstated in 5843.
Makedonios of Constantinople is given a tenure of one year in 5850,
but appears in his second year in 58si. Juvenal of Jerusalem dies in
am 5953/ but the last year of his tenure is recorded in 5968. Further
disagreements appear in AM 5858, 5885, 5918, 5956, 5981, 5983, etc.

2. Doublets, that is repetitions of the same events, occur. The
birth of Theodosios II is recorded twice (AM 5892 and 5893) as is the
death of Leo II (5966 and 5967). In the account of the Nika riot ((M
6024) we are given a description of the fire that destroyed the heart
of Constantinople,- that is followed by the famous acta relating to
Kalopodios (which may have no connection with the Nika riot); then
the same fire is related once again with somewhat different details.
The plot against Phokas in AM 6099 is repeated in 6101 with the

*% As previously argued by one of us, ZRVI 18 (1978), 9-7, repr. in Byzantium and
its Image (London, 1984], study XI. Cf. critique by I. S. Qcurov, VizVrem 42 (1981),

2B ff.
Ixiv

Chronology

same conspirators’ names. The Persian invasion of Syria in the 5th
year of Phokas (AM 6099) occurs again in the first year of Herakleios
(6102).

3. The same persons and places appear under variant names, pre-
sumably as Theophanes found them in his sources. Thus Rekimer
(AM 5947) is transformed into Remikos the following year. Pope
Silverius (AM 6029) becomes Silvester in the rubric of 6030. While
Theophanes may not have realized that Arzamon was the same as
Arxamoun, he could surely have guessed that the Persian king
Kabades was the same as Kouades and that the general Sarbaros
(Sahrvaraz), who plays such a prominent part in the narrative, was
the same as Sarbarazas.

4. Confusions and inconsistencies of various kinds occur. Thus,
divergent accounts of the last emperors of Rome appear under 5947
and 5964. The Gepid Moundos takes up service in the Empire in
6032, but he had already distinguished himself during the Nika riot
in 6024. In 6161 we are told that Constantine IV began to reign
‘together with his brothers’, but in the next sentence we are given to
understand that his brothers had not been crowned. In the same year
the brothers are made to suffer mutilation (hence are deposed), but
they are still reigning twelve years later, when they are expelled
from the imperial office (6173), whereupon Constantine ‘reigns
alone with his son' (a contradiction in terms). The story of Pope
Stephen III (6216) is misplaced by some thirty years with regard to
its true date. Anastasius in his translation has it under 6234, still not
quite right. This is presumably a case of a ‘loose’ entry that the edi-

tor did not know what to do with. There may well be others.

III]. CHRONOLOGY

As already stated, the chronological skeleton of the Chronicle is
expressed in its rubrics (or 'canons'), which are given either in full or
in an abbreviated form. The full rubric takes the following form: year
from Creation; year from Incarnation (AM minus 5500); regnal year of
Roman emperor,- ditto of Persian king (after the fall of the Persian
kingdom his place is taken by the Arab Caliph); bishop of Rome;
bishop of Constantinople; bishop of Jerusalem,- bishop of Alexandria,-
bishop of Antioch.

The abbreviated rubric consists merely of a string of numerals, for
example (for AM 5778), ‘2, 16, 8, 14, 12, 3', meaning the 2nd year of
the Roman emperor, the 16th of the Persian king, the 8th of the Pope
of Rome, etc.

The full rubric normally marks the accession of the Roman

lxiii

Introduction

emperor (but not in the case of Arkadios, the ephemeral Heraklonas,
Justinian II for the second time, Leo III, Irene for the second time,
and Nikephoros 1), occasionally that of the Persian king or Arab
Caliph, or certain events of particular importance (eg. 5803:
Constantine wins Rome,- 5810: Constantine becomes sole emperor;
5815: defeat of Licinius; 5816: Council of Nicaea, etc.). In the major-
ity of cases, however, its introduction does not appear to obey any
rule and may have been dictated by the make-up of the archetype.
Assuming that the scribe sometimes started a page with a full rubric,
we would expect the ‘unmotivated’ rubrics to occur at fairly regular
intervals, as indeed they often do, namely at intervals of about forty

lines of text in de Boor's edition or multiples thereof.

1. Annus mundi and Indiction

At the time of Theophanes there did not exist in the Byzantine world
a generally accepted form of absolute dating. The system most
widely used and understood by the public was that of indictions,
which constituted a recurring cycle of fifteen years having an ideal
starting-point on 1 September 312. The ordinal number of the cycle
was, however, never indicated, so that, say, the date indiction 12
simply meant the 12th year of any given cycle. By contrast, the AM
was a learned construct, seldom used in practice to judge by its infre-
quent appearance in inscriptions and manuscript colophons of the

period. Furthermore, two principal methods of computing the AM

were in competition, namely:

(a) The so-called Alexandrian (or era of Annianus), meant to begin
in 5500 BC but, in fact, having a starting point of 25 Mar. 5492
BC in relation to our Dionysian era.
(b) The Byzantine (or Romanas Theophanes calls it) from 5 508 or,
to be more precise, from 1 Sept. 5509 BC.
The second, which had the advantage of making Creation coincide
with the beginning of an indictional cycle, was gaining the upper hand
by the eighth/ninth century and was eventually destined to prevail.**
Even so, Theophanes chose the Alexandrian system for the simple rea-
son that it had been adopted by Synkellos, who, in turn, was motivated
both by considerations of symbolism and the fact that the Alexandrian
computation was prevalent in the Melkite circles of Palestine.
Having chosen the Alexandrian era, Theophanes was faced with
the task of cutting up his narrative material so as to fit it. Here lies
the crux of the problem, for it must be understood that among the

** The best discussion of Byzantine eras is in V. Grumel's Chronologie, 56 ff.

Ixiv

Chronology

sources Theophanes had at his disposal very few would have had AM
dating of whatever kind. Instead, he was confronted by a jumble of
alternative systems, such as indictions, consulships (still current in
the sixth/seventh century), regnal years, and, in the case of his
Oriental source(s), the Seleucid era (or AG) and even the Hegira. Had
he gone about his work methodically, he would have started by com-
piling a table of concordances as well as regnal, consular, and epis-
copal fasti; and, once the framework was established, he might even
have eliminated the disparate chronological indications contained
in his sources. In the event, his approach was less than methodical
and, fortunately, he often left in the text various dates which at
times are not in accord with the AM. In all such cases the presump-
tion must be that the date in the text has been borrowed from the
source and is more likely to be correct than the AM, the latter being
simply the result of Theophanes' own calculation.

The indictions are of particular importance by reason of their fre-
quency. A careful reading of the Chronicle reveals, however, that
their distribution is by no means uniform. In fact, the initial part,
from Diocletian to the last year of Justin I, contains only fourteen
instances, of which three are misplaced, namely:

AM 5824 = ind. 5, but Theophanes implies ind. 6

AM 5859 = ind. 10, but Theophanes gives ind. 8

AM 5950 = ind. 11, but Theophanes gives ind. 10 (which happens to

be correct for the event in question—the accession of Leo—but

does not correspond to the AM).
Indictions are given with fair regularity for the reign of Justinian l,
but there is a gap between AM 6058 and 6069 (corresponding, very
nearly, to the reign of Justin II) and again between 6080 and 6092
(that is, the greater part of the reign of Maurice), the incidence of
indictions being a pointer to the kind of source Theophanes was fol-
lowing. A classicizing source, like Theophylact Simocatta, would

not have contained any indiction dates.

A question that has attracted a good deal of scholarly debate is the
discrepancy between indiction and AM (the latter being one year behind)

from some time in the reign of Phokas (after 603) until at least 659°°

> In scholarly literature the periods of discrepancy are variously given as 607-714
or 609-715 and again 725-73 or 727-75. As to the first period, it should be noted that
the earliest incorrect synchronism occurs in AD 610 (AM 6102 equated with ind. 14
instead of 13) and the discrepancy persists down to 659 (AM 6150 equated with ind. 2
instead of 1). After that indictional dates are absent down to 715 (AM 6207 correctly
equated with ind. 13). The basic study is by G. Ostrogorsky, BNJ17 (1930), 1-56. See
also D. Anastasievic, Annales de I'Inst. Kondakov II (1940), 147-99; W. Treadgold,
GRBS 31 (19901, 203 ff.

Ixv

Introduction

and again from 727 to 774.°° Various solutions that have been pro-
posed, starting withJ. B. Bury's,*’ were based on the assumption that
the discrepancy was not accidental; that it was due, in other words,
to some reform of the indictional count or the application of some
chronological principle. The most ingenious among these solutions
is that propounded by V. Grumel,°*® to wit that for Theophanes, as
for Synkellos, the year started not on 1 September but on 25 March,
so that one AM corresponded to two indictions, an earlier one from
25 March to 31 August (called synchronism A by Grumel) and a later
one from 1 September to 24 March (synchronism B). Hence, in
Grumel's view, Theophanes made no mistake: he simply switched,
for whatever reason, from one system to another.

At first sight Grumel's theory appears attractive, even neces-
sary:° for if Theophanes deliberately chose to depart from
Synkellos' stated practice of reckoning from 25 March, he should
have warned us of the change, which he does not. Even so, it is plain
time and again from his narrative that for him, as for all his con-
temporaries at Constantinople, the year started on 1 September.®°
What then is the solution of the puzzle? Quite simply that
Theophanes went astray. In fact, the origin of his miscalculation as
regards the Heraclian period is perfectly obvious, as already noted by
Bury®' and others: he assigned eight indictions to Phokas but only
seven regnal years, whereas in reality the reign of Phokas lasted very
nearly eight years (23 Nov. 602-5 Oct. 610). As a result, the indic-
tional count moved ahead by one unit with regard to the year. At a
later point Theophanes realized his error and corrected it; he then
went astray again and corrected himself for the second time. Once

the discrepancy is seen to be due to muddle it no longer requires a
5° The rot sets in at AM 6218, which is made to include both ind. g and 10, and per-
sists down to AM 6265. Detailed table inRochow, Byzanz, 328 ff.

°7 HLRE’ ii. 425-7, who was here concerned only with the period 724-74 and pro-
posed that in 726 Leo III doubled the indiction, i.e. raised double taxes. E. W. Brooks,
BZ 8 (1899), 82-97, was to point out that the discrepancy also applied to 607-714 (his
dates).

*° EO 33 (1934!, 396-408.

°° We were mistaken in approving of it in the study quoted in n. 53.

°° As pointed out, amongst others, by D. Anastasievic (as inn. 55), 181 ff.

° HLRE' ii. 197 n. 1. Within this period it is difficult to determine exactly where
the discrepancy starts, since Theophanes' chronology for the reign of Phokas is
extremely unreliable and, apart from the emperor's accession (ind. 6) and his down-
fall (ind. 14), contains only one explicit indiction date (the 7th for the assumption of
the consulship by Phokas - Dec. 603, correctly equated with AM 6096). Presumably,
the rot sets in soon thereafter, since the conspiracy of the prefect Theodore, which is
dated to indiction 8 (AD 604/5) i° Chron. Pasch. 696, is moved to 606/7 by
Theophanes.

Ixvi

Chronology

comprehensive explanation. Whenever AM and indiction diverge, it
is the latter that is nearly always correct, although the historian
would be well advised to subject all of Theophanes' dates to careful

scrutiny.

2. Lists of Rulers and Bishops

Setting aside the year from the Incarnation, which is merely AM
minus 5500, the second element of the rubrics is provided by the
lists of the two main secular rulers, western and eastern, and of the
five patriarchs. This information must have been derived from short
chronological compendia, which normally gave an ordinal number
to each incumbent. As a rule, Theophanes omits the ordinal num-
ber, but he is not entirely consistent in this respect: thus Narses is
marked as the 7th king of Persia, ShapurII as the goth, etc. Synkellos,
too, had similar lists at his disposal but did not make a practice of
breaking them down year by year. He does, however, always supply
the ordinal number and places the patriarchs in the sequence:
1. Rome,- 2. Antioch; 3. Alexandria; 4. Jerusalem (Constantinople not
being a patriarchate in the period covered by him). There is no
reason to believe that synchronized lists were available to either
Synkellos or Theophanes: they had to make their own calculations.

As far as we are aware, no tabulated lists earlier than c. AD 800
have survived in Greek.°? In addition to those underlying Synkellos

and Theophanes we possess two others:

(3) The Chronographikon syntomon ascribed to the patriarch
Nikephoros, to which we have already alluded. It may be noted that
C. de Boor's standard edition®? stands in need of improvement
because he failed to use the four oldest manuscripts of this work,
namely British Library Add. 19390 (early 10th century; lists down to
829), Oxford, Christ Church, Wake 5 (the same that contains
Theophanes), ohm Dresden Da 12 (now in Moscow), a famous
Arethas manuscript of AD 932, and Jerusalem, Greek Patriarchate,

cod. 24 (10th century).°* Nikephoros includes, in addition to other

* Except for a chronology from Adam to Justinian I, copied into Marc. cod. gr. 1 of
the gth cent., the famous cod. V of the Septuagint, fos. 162‘-163- See E. Mioni,
Bibliothecae Divi Maici Venetiarum codices giaeci manuscripti, i (Rome, 1981), 5-6.
Fo. 163 is reproduced in Bessaiione e l'umanesimo, ed. G. Fiaccadori (Naples, 1994),
483. A short chronology from Adam to Zeno also formed part of the so-called
Tubingen Theosophy, whose original was composed in c. AD 500: K. Buresch, Klaros
(Leipzig, 1889), 95.

° Nicephoii opuscula histoiica (Leipzig, 1880), 81-135.

°4 For further details see Mango, Nikeph. 3-4.

Ixvii

Introduction

matter, catalogues of Roman emperors and the patriarchs of
Constantinople, Rome, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch, but has
neither Persian kings nor Arab Caliphs.

[b] The Chronographeion syntomon, dated 854, in codex
Vaticanus graecus 2210 of the 10th century. This has been edited by
A. Mai®> and, without a fresh collation, by A. Schone.°® It includes,
inter alia, catalogues of: Popes of Rome, patriarchs of Alexandria,
Antioch, Jerusalem, and Constantinople, kings of Persia, Arab
Caliphs, and Roman emperors in that order.

It may be noted that similar lists appear in Syriac chronography
(already in the Canon by Jacob of Edessa, which is of the end of the

7th century) and that there are early Slavonic translations of Greek

lists.
We cannot provide here a detailed tabulation of the above and

other available lists, but a few observations need to be set down

regarding the use made of them by Theophanes.

i. Persian Kings
The catalogue used by Theophanes was quite similar to that in the
Vatic, (ed. Schone, 96) and had the same ordinal numbers. It also
resembles that given by Synkellos (441-2). The divergences between
Theophanes and the Vatic, are due to scribal error, except for the last
two entries, which in Theophanes are:

Adeser (Ardasir III): 7 months (in fact, Sept. 628-27 Apr. 630,

hence close to 1 year 7 months)

Hormisdas: 11 years,-
whereas in the Vatic, they are:

Sarbaros: 1 year

Borane: 1 year.
Note that in his text (dB 329) Theophanes gives:

Adeser: 7 months

Sarbarazas: 2 months

Borane: 7 months

Hormisdas: no length of reign given.
Synkellos generally agrees with Theophanes, except that, through
scribal error or some other reason, he reverses five times the correct
order of the kings, gives Siroes ( = Kavad II) 8 months instead of 1
year (correctly or nearly so: Feb.-Sept. 628) and no length of reign to

65 Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, i/2 (Rome, 1825), 1 ff.
°6 Eusebii Chronicorum lib. prior (Berlin, 1875], app. IV, 64-101. Cf. the remarks
of I. Sevcenko, DOP 46 (1992), 284 ff.

xviii

Chronology

the final Hormisdas. Related, but less close is the list in Mich. Syr.
iii. 440.

It is not surprising that Byzantine chroniclers should have been
confused by the succession of ephemeral regents who held the
Persian throne between 630 and 632, but it is noteworthy that none
of them records the last king of Persia, Yazdgerd III (632-51). It may
be suggested, therefore, that the original list was cbmpiled soon after
630.

The lists given by Theophanes and Synkellos are also very close to
the more authoritative one by Agathias (iv. 23-30), which naturally
goes only as far as Khusro I (531-79) but is based on information
from the Persian royal annals.°’ The main difference is that for three
consecutive kings (Vahram III, Narses, and Hormizd II) Agathias
includes months as well as years. For the first two Theophanes and
Synkellos round the year up to the next whole number (4 months to
1 year®® and—in the case of Synkellos—7 years 5 months to 8 years).
Perhaps in consequence of this Theophanes then reduces the third
reign quite drastically from 7 years 5 months to 6 years, so produc-
ing the same total in years for the three reigns as Agathias did (15
years as against Agathias' 15 years and 2 months). But the third king
(Hormizd II) is also" the only case where Theophanes and Synkellos
differ in reign lengths, Synkellos giving 8 years (presumably by
rounding up) as against Theophanes' 6.°? That Synkellos' list, and so
also Theophanes', is derived ultimately from Agathias' narrative
rather than from a chronological table may be shown by their start-
ing-point of Ardasir I, the beginning of whose reign is dated by
Agathias (iv. 24) to the ,th year of Alexander Severus, son of
Mammaea, a fact which Synkellos appears to have extracted from
the narrative and used to provide an accurate starting-point for his
calculations (Mosshammer, 441. 3).

All three lists omit Hormizd III (457-9), which can hardly be acci-
dental, but the omission of his two-year reign restores accuracy to
Synkellos' subsequent synchronisms. Agathias, of course, was not
attempting synchronisms, but his accuracy is confirmed by his dat-
ing of Chosroes' accession to the 5th year of Justinian's reign. Since
Theophanes was not aware of this, he presumably did not use

Agathias but relied on Synkellos' list.

*7 On which see A. M. Cameron, DOP 23-4 (1969-70), 112-77.

8 Synkellos may reflect the original with his reference to aAAos S', although that
should mean ‘another emperor, 4 years’.

°9 Other rounding off occurs for Ardasir (14 years and 10 months to 15 years),
HormizdI (1 year 10 days to 1 year), Yazdgerd II (17 years and 4 months to 17 years).

Ixix

Introduction

Theophanes' dates for Persian kings should thus have been accu-
rate at the opening of his Chronicle and should have remained so
until his omission of Hormizd III (457-9). In fact, however, his dates
are inaccurate throughout. Thus Theophanes' opening reference at
AM 5777 is to Vahram II's 15th year, which should have meant that
his accession date was AM 5763 (AD 270/1), whereas by Synkellos' cal-
culation Vahram's first year was AM 5768 (AD 275/6), which happens
to be historically accurate. Consequently, Theophanes' dates for
Persian kings are initially out by about five years and the minor

alterations he makes along the way compound his errors even fur-

ther.7°

Theophanes'
standing of Synkellos, who, unlike Theophanes, does not list every

year separately, but usually gives the AM date only at the accession
of a new Roman emperor and at the end of that year records the
names of the patriarchs and the Persian king with the respective
lengths of their reigns. The AM date on these occasions is not neces-
sarily the accession date of the patriarchs and the Persian king,

initial error may have arisen through a misunder-

although it would be easy to assume that it was. It seems quite pos-
sible that Theophanes will have noted that his first Persian king (and
Synkellos' last synchronism) was listed by Synkellos at the acces-
sion of Aurelian in AM 5764. Theophanes may well have taken this
as Vahram's first year although he appears to have counted from
5763, a mistake of one year being not infrequent with the Roman
system of inclusive counting. Unfortunately, it is not possible to test
this hypothesis against the dates of patriarchs, for which there is no
obvious link between Synkellos' and Theophanes' calculations.
Whatever the reason for Theophanes' wrong starting-point, the
result is that his dates for the Persian kings remain wrong for the
whole Chronicle as he simply follows the reign lengths in Synkellos'
list. Here we need to allow both for Synkellos' (and Agathias') not
always agreeing with Persian sources and for the propensity of the
lists of making reigns coincide with whole years. Theophanes is thus
generally six to seven years behind from AM 5777 to 5864, but
reduces the lag to four or five years by 5886 with the added years for

Ardasir II and Vararanes. The omission of Hormizd II] returns the

deficit to eight years by AM 5945, but a mistake over Kavad's first
reign reduces this to five or six years again from AM 5983 to 6065. By
attributing fifteen years to Hormizd IV's eleven-year reign he

7° eg. he lists Ardasir's 4-year reign as beginning in AM 5865 but then repeats his
first year in AM 5866, so in effect giving him a fifth year. At AM 5866 he adds a 12th
year to Vararames' n-year reign and between 6113 and 6114 omits Khusro II's 34th
year, all of which appears to be due to carelessness.

Ixx

Chronology

reduces the gap to two years by AM 6080 and by jumping at AM 6114
from the 33rd to the 35th year of Khusro II (590-628) he is only one
year behind at AM 6119.

ii, Arab Caliphs

The catalogue of Theophanes, which starts with the prophet
Muhammad and goes down to the death of al-Amin in 813, is, once
again, related to that of the Vatic. (Schone, 96-7). The latter, which
appears to have been compiled in 818, is in some respects more accu-
rate than that of Theophanes. There is also a Syriac list down to the
accession of Walid I (705)”' and others in the Syriac chronicles.

It may be noted that the total of Caliphs' years from the Prophet
Muhammad to al-Amin adds up in Theophanes to 191, which is cor-

rect, given a starting-point in 622.

iii. Popes of Rome
The entries in Theophanes cease after Benedict I (575-9) and are
resumed with Gregory III (731-41) down to Leo III (795-816). In
Nikephoros Benedict I is the last pope for whom a length of reign is
given, but he is followed by five other names (down to Boniface IV)
without any chronological indications. In the Vatic, the lengths of
reign are given down to Pelagius 1(55 6-61), who is assigned incorrectly
ten years, but the enumeration of names continues without break
down to Pascal I (817-24), only Stephen V (22 June 816-24 J*"- 817)
being given, correctly, a reign of seven months. From this it may be
deduced that all three lists go back to an original compiled in c.580.7*
Because of his involvement in the cause of icons, Theophanes had
every reason to be interested in the popes of the eighth and ninth
centuries. That makes it difficult to account for the hopeless inac-

curacy of his data, as the following table shows:

Gregory III 9 years in fact, close to 11 (731--41)

Zacharias 21 years in fact, close to 10 (741-52)

Stephen II and III (752.-7) omitted from the list

Paul | 7 years in fact, 10 (757-67)

Constantine 5 years in fact, 1 (767-8)

Stephen IV 3 years correct (768-72)

Adrian I 27 years in fact, close to 24 (772--95)

Leo III 8 (2?) years in fact, 20 years 6 months
(795-816).

See F. Nau, JA, nth ser. 5 (191s), 226 n. 1.

For another Greek list of popes see Duchesne's edn. of Lib. Pont. iii. 49-50. It
goes down to Honorius | (625-38), but is consistently wrong in its chronology after
Pelagius I (556-61).

Ixxi

Introduction

The last entry poses a little problem: see AM 6289, n. 1. The figure 8
is in any case incorrect, seeing that under AM 6304 Leo is in his 16th
year out of a total of 16, whereas in 6305 (the last year of the
Chronicle) he is in his 17th year. If the numeral 8 is due to scribal
error, it can be corrected to either 18 or 20 /H' to K’), the latter being
nearly right. Seeing, however, that Leo died on 12 June 816, the
length of his reign could have been inserted only after that date, per-

haps by an early redactor.

iv. Patriarchs of Constantinople

The list of Theophanes starts with Metrophanes, who is given the
ist ordinal number, and his successor Alexander, marked 2nd; there-
after no more ordinal numbers are given. Exactly the same applies to
the Vatic. Originally, the list of Nikephoros also began with
Metrophanes (as shown by the London manuscript), but in de Boor's
edition, which represents a later state of the text, the apostle
Andrew is 1st and Metrophanes 23rd. All three lists have much in
common, although the chronology of the Vatic, is somewhat aber-
rant. Some of the differences between them can be explained by
scribal error or incorrect rounding off.

The last patriarch recorded by Theophanes is Nikephoros with a
reign of 9 years. Since Nikephoros was deposed on 13 March 815, the
relevant entry must have been inserted after that date either by

Theophanes or someone else.

v. Patriarchs of Jerusalem”

There is a close correspondence between Theophanes, Nikephoros,
and the Vatic., except that Theophanes at the beginning of his list is
off by ten digits in his ordinal numbers and makes the further con-
fusion of counting Zabdas (who should probably have been 39th) as
both 29th and 30th. Agreement as to ordinal numbers is re-estab-
lished only with no. 51, Salustius (486-94), who is also 51st in the
Vatic., but 5oth in Nikephoros. Theophanes goes down to
Sophronios (633 or 634-639),’* to whom he assigns, incorrectly, 3

® The early bishops of Jerusalem, from James brother of the Lord to Cyril, are enu-
merated by Alexander Mon. 4045B ff. Two points are worth noting: (1) Alexander says
he is unable to give the length of their respective tenures because such information
was not available. (2) His list, by comparison with Nikephoros', is shorter by six
incumbents. The omissions are not accidental because Alexander himself says
14072A) that, just as there were 35 Roman emperors from Augustus to Constantine,
so there were 35 bishops of Jerusalem, presumably inclusive of Makarios (41st in
Nikephoros). For the Jerusalem list see the excellent discussion by C. H. Turner, JTS
1 (1900), 529 ff.

74 For his dates see C. von Schonborn, Sophrone de Jerusalem (Paris, 1972), 97
n. 136.

lxxii

Chronology

years, but that figure may not have been in the source, since it is left
out by both Nikephoros and the Vatic. The original list, therefore,
was compiled at the latest shortly after the death of Modestus (Dec.
630), who is given, nearly correctly, 1 year in Nikephoros and the
Vatic., but 2 by Theophanes. The confusion that prevailed shortly
before the Arab conquest may account for the chronological inaccu-
racy of the Jerusalem list.

Two post-conquest patriarchs are named: an otherwise unknown
Alexander, who appears only in MSS e and m under AM 6186, with-
out a length of reign, and John, who is given 30 years (705-35). On
the basis of the manuscript tradition de Boor argued that both these

names have been interpolated.”

vi. Patriarchs of Alexandria

All three Greek lists go down to Peter III and are remarkably accu-
rate if the accepted dates are to be trusted, except for the last two
incumbents, namely Kyros (630 or 631-643 or 644), who is given 10
years, and Peter III (643 or 644-651), who is also given 10 (but no
length of reign in the Vatic.). From this it may be deduced that this

list, too, was compiled in c.630.

vii. Patriarchs of Antioch

The three Greek lists are fairly similar to one another and all go
down to Anastasios II (598 or 599-?608), which means that the orig-
inal was compiled before the conquest of that city by the Persians.
The chronological indications are quite accurate for the sixth cen-
tury, less so for the fourth and fifth.

The three eighth-century Melkite patriarchs who appear in the
rubrics, namely Stephen III (742 or 743-744 or 745), Theophylaktos
(744 OY 745-750 or 751), and Theodore (750 or 751-773 or 774), the
last being unaccountably given a tenure of only 6 years, have in de

Boor's opinion’® been interpolated.

3. Months and Days

When he is following an eastern source Theophanes occasionally
retains the names of the months of the so-called Macedonian calen-
dar in its Antiochene form. In all, we have counted fifteen such
instances. On four occasions he uses the Egyptian names of months,
again because he found them in his source or sources.

The old Roman practice of counting the days of the month from

% ii, 475-7. 7° ii, 478-80.

xxiii

Introduction

kalends, nones, and ides appears eleven times, all, as might have
been expected, in the early part of the Chronicle. Of the eleven cases,

three have an Alexandrian setting.

IV. SOURCES

Except for an indeterminate part of its final section the Chronicle of
Theophanes can best be viewed as a file of extracts borrowed from
earlier sources. These have been subjected in varying degrees to a
process of abbreviation and paraphrase (see below, p. xciff.), but no
attempt has been made to impose a stylistic uniformity to the resul-
tant text. On the contrary, peculiarities of diction and style, from the
archaic to the vernacular, that were present in the sources have,
more often than not, been left untouched. An extreme case is pro-
vided by the borrowings from the iambic poems by George of Pisidia,
many of which retain their metrical form. Unfortunately, this tell-
tale diversity cannot be fully conveyed in translation and can only
be sensed in the original.

Granted that the Chronicle is a file, its study is in a very real sense
the study of its sources: before he can use any part of it the historian
must attempt to determine the origin of each entry and the degree of
deformation it has undergone at the hands of its medieval editor or
editors. Availing ourselves of a considerable body of earlier
research,’’ we shall attempt to list such sources as can be reasonably
identified or delimited. It should be noted that, unlike the Syriac
chroniclers, who are often scrupulous in naming their authorities,
Theophanes hardly ever does so: in the few cases when he mentions

a historian's name he appears to have taken it at second hand.

i. A succinct chronological compendium of rulers and the bishops of
the five patriarchal sees. The foregoing discussion has shown that
the extant Greek lists, namely that of Nikephoros, the Vatic., and
the one utilized by Theophanes, were all related, whatever their dif-
ferences of detail; and that a similar list was available to Synkellos.
We have also seen that the original list of popes was drawn up in
c.580, that of Antioch in c.610, and those of Jerusalem and
Alexandria in c.630. As for the eastern sees, the rupture caused by
the Arab conquest and the lengthy vacancies that followed it may be
sufficient reason why the fasti were not kept up, but that does not

explain the even earlier break in the Roman list, since the Papacy

77 Such sources as were known at the time are given in de Boor's marginal indica-
tions. He was, of course, unaware of the Syriac parallels. For the Heraclian dynasty
see A. S. Proudfoot, Byz 44 (1974), 367-439; for the period 715-813, Rochow, Byzanz.

lxxii

Sources

never ceased being in contact with Constantinople. The key to this
problem is probably provided by the Canon of Jacob of Edessa (c. AD
692), which incorporates lists of the same character; and if we take
the trouble to extract the relevant information from his preserved
fragments, we shall discover that his record of the Popes of Rome
stops with John III (561-74), who is numbered 58th. For
Constantinople he goes down to no. 25, John of Sarmin, i.e. John III
Scholastikos (565-77); for Jerusalem to no. 59, Eustochios
(552-563/4); for Alexandria to John II (570-80);7’* and for Antioch to
Gregory (570-93). Thus, all of Jacob's lists were more or less con-
temporary.’? It should be borne in mind that from c.575 onwards the
succession of Chalcedonian bishops ceased to be of interest to a

Monophysite author like Jacob.

The near coincidence regarding the end of the Roman list strongly
suggests that the document available to Theophanes was ultimately
of eastern origin. There are further pointers to the same conclusion:
for example, the Vatic, (but not the other Greek lists) calls the 49th
bishop of Antioch Paul JovSas (presumably for lovSaios). Jacob, too,
has Paul the Jew as no. 49.°° An observation made by de Boor®’ may
also be of relevance: in view of the fact that some manuscripts of
Nikephoros' Chron. syntomon give the patriarchs of Jerusalem in
first place (before Rome and Constantinople) and of the unexpected
notice of St Chariton (martyred under the emperor Tacitus),** he
supposed that the work in question was revised in Jerusalem in
c.850. For our part, we are more inclined to believe that the original
lists, continued in Chalcedonian circles down to the Persian con-
quest for Antioch and to the Arab conquest for Jerusalem and
Alexandria, passed through Palestine before they came_ to
Constantinople. Perhaps they were brought by Synkellos who, as we

have noted, appears to have been a monk precisely at St Chariton's.

2. A compendium of ecclesiastical history, of which a substantial
part consisted of an abridgement of two works by Theodore Lector
(first half of the sixth century), namely the Historia tripartita (an

adaptation of Sokrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret), covering the

78 Although the Chalcedonian Kyros (630/1-643/4) and the Monophysite
Andronikos (619-26) and Benjamin (626—65) are also mentioned.

79 It may be of significance that they fall within the active years of the most
famous Syriac church historian, John of Ephesos, who seems to have had similar lists
at his disposal: cf. HE i. 41 (bishops of Antioch) and 42 (bishops of Constantinople).
Trans. E. W. Brooks, CSCO, Scr. Syr., 3rd ser. 3, versio (1936), 35-6.

8° Trans. Brooks, ZDMG 53 (1899), 318, a.195. He is also called Paulus iudaeus by
John of Ephesos, op. cit. p. 35 and given a tenure of two years as in the Vatic.

8: Preface to Nikephoros, Opuscula historica, xxxiv-xxxvi.

® Ibid. 95.

Ixxv

Introduction

period from Constantine to 0.430, and its continuation, the Historia
ecclesiastica (down to 518). These two works survive only in frag-
ments and Theophanes provides an essential basis for their recon-
struction.

Theodore is Theophanes' main source from Constantine | to the
death of Anastasios. The same compendium may also have provided
Theophanes with his versions of various other ecclesiastical histori-
ans:

[a] Gelasios of Caesarea, whose Ecclesiastical History was written

in c.395, and whom he cites by name at AM 5796. Gelasios seems to

be the ultimate source for a number of other statements in the

period of Diocletian and Constantine.

(&) A few passages, cited by de Boor, from cod. Baroccianus 142,
which wrongly purports to be the work of an excerptor of Eusebios'
Church History. These passages are distinct from others in the same
manuscript, which, though also cited by de Boor as 'Exc. Bar.', arein
fact fragments of Theodore Lector.

end of the sixth century. Fragments of this also survive in cod.

Parisinus gr. 1555A.

[d] A chronicle based on Eusebios' Chronicle and Jerome's Latin
continuation of it (presumably in a Greek translation). Theophanes
draws on this regularly to 359. This may either have been an inde-
pendent chronicle or have been incorporated in the compendium of
Ecclesiastical History or perhaps have formed part of the so-called
‘City Chronicle'®? and be linked with item 13 of our sources.

3. Eutropios' Breviarium, a succinct history from 753 BC to AD 364 in
Latin, was available in two Greek translations. Theophanes uses
short excerpts for seven years between 293 and 339.

4.An opuscule by Alexander the Monk, entitled 'On the Discovery
of the True Cross’, but also providing a wide-ranging (rather than
detailed) background and follow-up to the main subject.** Probably
written in Cyprus or Jerusalem (the two places Alexander seems to
be familiar with) and traditionally dated to the late sixth century,
this appears to reflect one of Theophanes' two main sources between
AM 5793 and 5817, especially for Constantine and, to a lesser degree,
for Diocletian. Termini for the work are a citation of a condemna-
tion of Origen made in 543 and a ninth/tenth-century manuscript of

a Georgian translation. A case has been made fora firm date between

83 B. Croke in G. W. Clarke, ed., Reading the Past in Late Antiquity (Canberra
1990), 165-203.
84 PG 87/3: 4016-76.

Ixxvi

Sources

543 and 556,°° but a more recent suggestion rejects this and proposes
very tentatively a date between 741 and 775, while at the same time
denying that Theophanes made use of Alexander.®® What is clear in
our view is that Theophanes and Alexander followed a common tra-
dition which, on the whole, is better preserved by Alexander than it
is by Theophanes. Several sections are manifestly identical, and that
cannot be ascribed to chance. In general Alexander is more detailed
than Theophanes and we can observe Theophanes' standard abridg-
ing technique of omitting details while copying the outline word for
word, which sometimes leads to obscurity (e.g. AM 5815). On one
occasion, however, Theophanes includes details necessary for
understanding a story which are omitted by Alexander, showing that
Alexander (at any rate as published) cannot be Theophanes' source
(see AM 5793, n. 7). In this case the necessary details are preserved in
the so-called Guidi Life of Constantine (the Guidi Bios) of uncertain
date (ninth/tenth century?),°” which elsewhere is very close to both
Alexander and Theophanes, but is written in a more florid style. At
some points the Guidi Bios also omits necessary details preserved in
either Alexander or Theophanes, so it cannot be their source;
besides, its language suggests it is a later work. The most econom-
ical solution is to assume a common source for all three, perhaps
incorporating material from Gelasios of Caesarea, whom

Theophanes mentions as an authority for this period.

The only writer to mention Alexander is Glykas (Annales iv, Bonn
edn., 466. 20-467.14), who cites him as the source for Constantine's
late baptism, but rejects this with arguments against Alexander
taken almost verbatim from Theophanes, AM 5814. It appears that
Glykas knew that Theophanes' source was Alexander, but also
knew that Theophanes, whom Glykas generally follows, had
attempted to refute him.

The argument over Constantine's late baptism raises the question
of links between the common source and the supposed Arian
History (Hypoth. Arian: see below). The relevant facts here are that
Alexander (and so presumably the common source) retains the cor-
rect account of the late baptism, and that Theophanes, in rejecting
this in favour of the fictitious early baptism in Rome by Pope

Silvester, specifically attributes the late baptism to an Arian fiction.

85 M. van Esbroeck, Bedi Kartlisa, 37 (1979), 106 f. Endorsed by P. van Deun and
J. Noret, Hagiographica Cypria, Corp. Christ., ser. gr. 26 (1993), 16 ff.

86 A. Kazhdan, Byz 57 (1987], 199 ff., 221, 247.

87 BHG 364, ed. M. Guidi, Rend, della R. Accad. dei Lincei, 5th ser. 16 (1907),
306-40, 637-55. Cf. R. Scott in P. Magdalino, ed., New Constantines (Aldershot,
1994I, 66 ff.

lxxvii

Introduction

It seems inherently unlikely that Theophanes would have been
working with two separate sources that supported an Arian inter-
pretation, both apparently written in the East (Syria and Jerusalem).
If we accept the existence of Hypoth. Arian, it may also have been
the source of Alexander.

There are several other works which contain later traditions about
Constantine and show similarities with Theophanes, Alexander,
and the Guidi Bios, notably Constantine's Life of cod. Angelicus
22,°° and the Patmos legend \BHG 365 n.).°° Without entering into
the debate on the date of these and related texts,°° what is notable
again is the link between their distinctive themes and supposed
Arian propaganda to which Theophanes makes a specific rejoinder.
Thus, there is the story of Helena as a prostitute giving birth to an
illegitimate Constantine (rejected by Theophanes at AM 5814 as an
Arian slander); the story of young Constantine's early sympathy for
Christians despite his pagan upbringing and Diocletian's resultant
suspicion of him (preserved with suitable modifications by
Theophanes at AM 5793, where see n. 8); and Constantine's venera-
tion of the Cross, where Theophanes again alters considerably the
version in Alexander.®' For this last example there is good reason to
suggest a link with Hypoth. Arian, since the variants are all found in
the Chronicon Paschale. The precise nature of this link and its pos-
sible connection with Iconoclasm and a ninth-century preoccupa-
tion with Arianism are not clear, but there are grounds for
suspecting the existence of an Arian version of Constantine's Life,

which Theophanes is at pains to reject.

5. A local chronicle of Alexandria. Between AM 5786 and 6009 there
are 23 references to Alexandria, which are either unattested else-
where (18) or attested only in a work which does not appear to have
been Theophanes' source (s).°” Seventeen of the 23 passages are con-
centrated between 5890 and 5961 and often (seven times) they pro-
vide the only information for the year. The material includes public
buildings (baths, theatres, basilicas), earthquakes, popular demon-

strations, and the discovery and translation of saints’ relics, that is

88 BHG 365, ed. H. G. Opitz, Byz 9 11934), 545-90; additions by J. Bidez, Byz 10
(i935), 421-6-

89 Ed. F. Halkin, AnBoll 77 (1959), 63-107.

°° F. Winkelmann in Beitiage zur byzant. Geschichte im 9-u. fahihundert
(Prague, 1978), 181, 200, argues for the 5th or 6th cent.; Kazhdan, op. cit. 211, for the
9 th.

°' For details see Kazhdan, op. cit. 211.

% There are, of course, other references to Alexandria whose source we can iden-
tify.

Ixxviii

Sources

the stock-in-trade of a Byzantine chronicle. Some of the passages
suggest an interest in matters outside Alexandria, in particular cam-
paigns in Libya (AM 5961; cf. 5963, 5964). It is tempting to suggest
that this may be the source for Theophanes' one passage in his
excursus on Justinian's African campaigns (AM 6026) which is not
drawn from Prokopios or Malalas. For two passages a parallel is pro-
vided by Michael the Syrian (in one case citing John of Asia, i.e. of
Ephesus). Two other passages link Alexandria with Jerusalem (AM
6005, and less clearly, AM 6033). It seems at least a possibility that
this material derives from Theophanes' access to an eastern source
or sources.

We list the years which contain material from the local
Alexandrian chronicle: 5786 (various parallels), 5812 (cf. Mich. Syr.
citing John of Asia), 5870 (cf. Excerpta Barbari and Nikephoros,
Chron. syntomon), 5890, 5891, 5914, 5916 (cf. Mich. Syr.), 5928,
5932, 5933/ 5934, 5935, 5945, 5949, 5950 (twice), 5956, 5957, 5959,
5961 (cf. 5963, 5964), 6001, 6005, 6009 (cf. Malalas). Other passages
which may possibly be derived from the Alexandrian source but are
more probably taken from elsewhere are: 5859 (parallel in Sokrates,
so probably should be added to the fragments of Theodore Lector),
6008 (accepted as a fragment of Theodore Lector by Hansen because
of parallel in Victor Tunnunensis), 6033 and 6056 (both probably
from the Ecclesiastical compendium), and 6063 (cf. John of Antioch).

The parallel at AM 5870 with Excerpta Barbari needs noting.
Excerpta Barbari” is generally accepted as being a Latin translation
of an illustrated Greek chronicle reaching to AD 387 (i.e. the equiva-
lent of AM 5880), which was written at Alexandria though contain-
ing material about the Western Empire. Elsewhere Excerpta Barbari
shows affinities both with the Chronicon Paschale and, more par-
ticularly, with various Latin chronicles, especially Fasti Hydatiani
and the so-called Fasti Vindobonenses. Since there are also signs
that Theophanes' Alexandrian source included material from out-
side Alexandria, it is likely that other non-Alexandrian material par-
alleled only in Excerpta Barbari (AM 5882 and 5879) and in Latin
chronicles (AM 5880, 5881, 5900, 5903, 5904, 5906 (where there is an
Alexandrian connection), 5911, 5945, 5948, and 5955) is also derived
from the Alexandrian source. That would help explain Theophanes'
unexpected knowledge of Italian and other western events (or, in the
case of errors, affinities to western chronicles), which is not reflected
in other Byzantine chronicles. Since a case can no doubt be made
for claiming that this material may have existed in a

° See B. Croke in Clarke, ed., Reading the Past in Late Antiquity, 185-8; R. S.
Bagnall et al., Consuls of the Latei Roman Empire (Atlanta, 1987), 52-4.

Ixxix

Introduction

Constantinopolitan archive, it would be idle to speculate whether
other unparalleled material from the same period, especially regard-
ing the West, is similarly derived and, further, whether the links
with Chronicon Paschale can connect the Alexandrian source with
Hypoth. Arian.

6. A lost Arian history? Chronicon Paschale does not appear to have
been used directly by Theophanes. As it is not mentioned in Photios'
Bibliotheca, there may not have been a copy available to him.%4
Although there are numerous passages where Chron. Pasch. and
Theophanes are identical, there are occasions where, in the midst of
such passages, each in turn omits an essential detail of the story pre-
served in the other (e.g. at the siege of Nisibis, AM 5841, where see
the notes), indicating rather the use of a common source. The
description of the siege of Nisibis also illustrates that the common
source occasionally reflected an Arian point of view, which is pre-
served in Chron. Pasch. but toned down, omitted, or combated by
Theophanes (cf. AM 5829, 5841, 5847, 5849; he also adds anti-Arian
epithets to his source at 5856 and 5859). The same Arian history
appears to have been a source for the Syriac Chr. 724 and so indi-
rectly for Mich. Syr. This complicates rather than elucidates two
other problems, namely that of identifying Theophanes' eastern
sources, particularly for the early period, and that of Theophanes'
relation to Alexander the monk (discussed above). It should be
noted, however, that not all parallels between Theophanes and
Chron. Pasch. can be derived from the hypothetical Arian history.
The latter appears to have been written in the reign of Valens and
was itself used as a source by Philostorgios in the fifth century,
while parallels between Theophanes and Chron. Pasch., some cer-
tainly derived from a common use of Malalas (e.g. the Nika riot),
continue to the mid-sixth century.

An attempt at reconstructing as much as possible of the hypo-
thetical Arian history was made by f. Bidez in his edition of
Philostorgios?> on the basis of parallels between Chron. Pasch.,
Theophanes, Chr. J24, Mich. Syr., Jerome's Chronicle, and occa-
sionally other works and including also surrounding passages which
have not been attributed to another source. This has produced 48
fragments varying in length from a few lines to several pages.
Theophanes is represented in 45 of the 48 fragments (far more than
any other author), for five of which he is the only source,- Chron.
Pasch. in 20; Chr. 724 in 20; and Mich. Syr. in 14. We accept that
some such work probably existed, although we emphasize that its

°4 Cf. above, p. liii. Chron. Pasch. originally terminated in 630. 95 101 ff

Ixxx

Souices

reconstruction is at best hypothetical. Whether Theophanes used it
directly or through an intermediary is even less clear. None the less
we have indicated its possible use by Theophanes by including it at
the end of the sources for any one passage as Hypoth. Arian, followed
by the fragment number. These passages occur between AM 5815
and 5870. The bearing of Hypoth. Arian on any estimation of

Theophanes' eastern sources is discussed below.

7. The Antiochene Chronicle of John Malalas from Creation to
c.547, continued at Constantinople to the death of Justinian I (565).
In addition to a number of fragments and parts of a Slavonic transla-
tion (whose reconstruction raises many difficulties), Malalas sur-
vives only in an abridged version, from Creation to AD 563, in cod.
Baroccianus 182 of the eleventh century.®° Some 150 passages of
Malalas have been borrowed by Theophanes.

8. Prokopios, Bell, peis., books i and ii, and Bell, vand., the use of the
latter being confined to AM 6026. For Theophanes' treatment of this
source see below, pp. xci ff.

g. Theophylact Simocatta for the Persian war of Justin II and the
reigns of Tiberius and Maurice.

1o. The Chronicle by John of Antioch, or rather its continuation, of
which only fragments survive among the Exceipta of Constantine
Porphyrogenitus. This appears to have been a composite work: a first
part, written in classical Greek, extending to the death of Anastasios
I (518), was continued in colloquial Greek to 610. It may be argued
that there was a further continuation to 641, reflected in the first
part of the Breviarium of Nikephoros.°’? Theophanes used John of
Antioch to supplement Theoph. Sim. for the latter part of the reign
of Maurice (AM 6092-4) and as a major source for the reign of Phokas
down to the arrival of Herakleios. A number of entries of
Constantinopolitan character for the reigns of Justin II (see AM 6063)
and Tiberius may also derive from the same source. Setting aside a
single case of convergence with Nikephoros in the incident of the Avar
surprise (AM 6no), there is no indication that Theophanes had access
to the postulated continuation to 641. We assume that the court pro-

tocols for the same period come from a different source (no. 12).

11. The poems by George of Pisidia, notably the Expeditio persica

and another historical poem (or poems) dealing with the campaigns

°° For further details see Mai. Tians. and Mai. Studies.

°7 Cf. Mango Nikeph. 13-14. P. Sotiroudis, Untersuchungen zum Geschichtswerk
des Johannes von Antiocheia (Thessaloniki, 1989), 150 ff-, considers John's History
to have been written c.520-30 and does not concern himself in detail with later
material.

lxxxi

Introduction

of 624-8, which has not survived except for the fragments preserved
by Theophanes and the Souda lexicon. We need not consider here
whether the lost poem(s) was an independent major work (as origi-
nally argued by L. Sternbach) or constituted Book III of the Heraclias
(so A. Pertusi) or was a set of shorter pieces (as recently argued by
J. D. Howard-Johnston).°® For the sake of convenience our footnote

references conform to Pertusi's edition.
12. An additional source for the Persian campaigns of Herakleios.?®

13. A set of ‘court announcements’ recording imperial births, mar-

riages, coronations, etc., down perhaps to 641.'°°

14. An eastern (Syriac) chronicle. Theophanes is unique among
Byzantine chroniclers in his direct use of a foreign source, which
makes up a major part of his narrative for the seventh and eighth
centuries. The credit for proving this fact is due to E. W. Brooks,’*'
whose acute remarks admit of further elaboration thanks to the sub-
sequent publication to texts not available to him, in particular the
Chronicle of 1234 and Agapios of Membidj.

There can be little doubt that the source used by Theophanes (for
the sake of simplicity we shall speak of a single source, although
there may have been more than one) was a Greek translation of a
chronicle written in Syriac. That this translation was made in the
East is indicated, amongst other clues, by the use of Macedonian
months, which was traditional in Syria-Palestine: these occur
between 6126 and 6242. It is also evident that this source in its final
form was a product of Melkite circles. It is difficult to determine its
place of origin, since there are divergent pointers to Edessa, Antioch,
Emesa, and Palestine. But even if the final redaction was Melkite,
the source incorporated a good deal of material common to the
Syrian Jacobite tradition, as represented notably by Michael the
Syrian and the Chronicle of 1234.

The identification of the eastern passages (which, for the reader's
convenience, we have distinguished by a different font) is not always

%® 'The Official History of Heraclius' Persian Campaigns’, in E. Dabrowa, ed., The
Roman and Byzantine Army in the East (Cracow, 1994), 62 ff.

°° Ibid. 76 ff.

*° Cf. P. Speck, Das geteilte Dossier: Beobachtungen zu den Nachrichten iiber die
Regierung des Kaisers Herakleios und die seiner Sdhne bei Theophanes und
Nikephoros, Poikila Byzantina, 9 (Bonn, 1988), 25 ff.

BZ 15 (1906), 578-87. Cf. N. Pigulevskaja, JOBG 16 (1967), 55-60, for
Theophanes' relation to Ps.-Dionysios. A useful survey of Syriac historical sources for
the 7th cent, is given by S. P. Brock, BMGS 2 (1976), 17-36. See now also L. I. Conrad,
ByzF 15 (1ggol, 1-44; R- Hoyland, ‘Arabic, Syriac and Greek Historiography in the
First Abbasid Century’, Aram, 3 (1991), 217-39; Palmer, Seventh Century, esp. 96 ff.
(by R. Hoyland).

Ixxxii

Sources

beyond dispute. Setting aside some cases of overlap as early as the
fourth century (discussed below), the passages in question start with
the Persian invasion in the reign of Phokas (AM 6099), become more
or less continuous from AD 630 onwards, and extend at least to
AD 780.

If we wish to go further and try to identify Theophanes' eastern
source, we find ourselves in deep waters. It is known that Michael's
Chronicle (completed in 1195) was chiefly based for the period
582-842 (ie. books x. 21-xii) on that of Dionysios of Tel-Mahre, who
is also acknowledged to have been the source of the Chronicle of
1234, the latter being independent of Michael. But Dionysios died in
845 and his Chronicle, which is lost except for a few fragments,'°*
could not, therefore, have been the source of Theophanes. The latter
must have been already incorporated in Dionysios.

The next point to notice is that whereas Theophanes' eastern
source extended to at least 780, his correspondence with Michael (as
with Chr. 1234) stops in about 750, as already stressed by Brooks.
The relationship of the various texts we have been discussing, set-

ting aside Agapios, can, therefore, be expressed by the following

schema:

Chronicle of 750
completed to 780 Dionysios of Tel-Mahre(d. 845)
Theophanes Chr. 1234 Michael (1195)

With regard to the postulated Chronicle of 750, it ought to corre-
spond to the work of one of the six authors cited by Dionysios in his
Preface, which is reproduced by Michael (ii. 358). Their respective
claims have been examined by Brooks, who, after eliminating four of
them as being too early, too late, or otherwise unsuitable, was left
with two candidates, namely a certain John son of Samuel and
Theophilos of Edessa, expressing a preference for the former. Since
nothing whatever is known concerning John son of Samuel, we shall
be none the wiser if we ascribe to him the Chronicle of 750.
Theophilos of Edessa, who is specifically mentioned as a source by
Agapios of Membidj (whose work belongs to the same nexus of
sources), °*? is a more attractive candidate. He was a Melkite, an
‘astrologer’, anda favourite of the Caliph al-Mahdi. In addition to his

historical interests, he also translated the Iliad and the Odyssey into

©? An attempt to reconstruct it is made by Palmer, Seventh Century, in ff.
103 po viii. 525.

Ixxxili

Introduction

Syriac. He died in 785.'°* Recently a detailed case has been made for
Theophilos' authorship of the 'Chronicle of 750',’°? which may be
accepted as a working hypothesis. That, however, still leaves open
the identity of the eastern source for the period 750-80, which does
not appear to offerany close parallels either with the Syriac tradition
or with Agapios, whose published text breaks off in the second year
of al-Mahdi (AD 776/7). One possible solution would be to suppose
that whoever translated Theophilos into Greek wrote the post-750
narrative in addition to being responsible for a number of other
entries in the pre-7 50 section, which, although of eastern derivation,
are unique to Theophanes.

Brooks's discussion was concerned only with the latter part of
Theophanes' Chronicle. There are, however, occasional signs that
Theophanes used a Syriac chronicle or chronicles from perhaps as
early as AD 320 (AM 5812). Here the problem is bedevilled by the pos-
sibility that all these items are derived from the hypothetical Arian
historian, who was a source for Theophanes, Chron. Pasch., and the
Syriac Chr. 724. It should, however, be noted that the Arian History

106

was itself produced in Syria, though probably written in Greek. Of
the 40 shared items which Theophanes contributes to the recon-
structed text of Hypoth. Arian, 29 are reflected in Syriac sources (as
against 11 for Chron. Pasch.) or, to put it the other way round, every
one of the 31 Syriac contributions are also reflected in Theophanes,
whereas 17 of them have no reflection in Chron. Pasch. A more pre-
cise analysis of AM 5828 and 5829 is instructive in this respect. In
both of these years the Syriac Chr. 724 contains exactly the same
information as Theophanes on items for which there is no sign in
any Greek source. In the first example both chronicles state that
"many of the Assyrians in Persia were sold into Mesopotamia by the
Arabs ('Saracens' in Theophanes)'. Chr. 724 continues as follows:
'Sabores, emperor of the Persians, came to Mesopotamia to attack
Nisibis. He besieged it for 66 days. And Jacob, bishop of Nisibis, by
his own prayer drove back the army. When (the Persians) returned to
their own land they found famine and hunger before them instead of

profit.'. The reference to Jacob is so close to Theophanes and so

4 The Chronography of Gregory Abu '1-Faraj. . . known as Bar Hebraeus, trans.
E. A. W. Budge, i (London, 1932,1, 116. Cf. A. Baumstark, Geschichte der syrischen
Liteiatur (Bonn, 1922), 341-2. Note that Theophilos appears to have used the
Byzantine era, since he calculated AG as starting in 5197 from Adam: Budge, 40 [39];
F. Nau, ROC 4 (1899), 327.

*°5 LI. Conrad, 'The Conquest of Arwad' in A. Cameron and L. I. Conrad, eds., The
Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East, i (Princeton, 1992), 317-401.

106 P. Batiffol, La Paix constantinienne etle catholicisme, 4th edn. (Paris, 1929),
9i-

Ixxxiv

Souices

unusual that in one otherwise excellent discussion an unknown
source, probably in Syriac rather than in Greek, was postulated to
explain the similarity, although the author felt that Theophanes
could hardly have had access to Syriac material.'°’ If we substitute
George Synkellos for Theophanes, the problem of the use of a Syriac
source disappears.

To pursue our analysis of AM 5828 and 5829, Chr. 724 placed its
account (from the sale of the Assyrians to the return of the Persians
from Nisibis) early in the reign of Constantius. Theophanes has
divided this between Constantine's last year (sale of the Assyrians)
and Constantius’ first year (siege of Nisibis and Jacob's prayer). He
simply attached the sale of the Assyrians to his Greek source's ref-
erence to the Persian invasion in Constantine's last year, while
retaining for the next year his Greek source's account of the siege of
Nisibis, to which he added Jacob's prayer from his Syriac source. If
this is set out in tabular form it will be seen that the separate corre-
spondences are too precise for us to assume a single source (see p.
Ixxxvi).

All of Theophanes' material for these two years, apart from a small
amount taken from the Ecclesiastical Compendium, is to be found
almost verbatim in Chron. Pasch. and Chr. 724. It is noteworthy,
however, that apart from the description of the siege of Nisibis, the
material contained in Chr. 724 is not present in Chron. Pasch. and
vice versa. The division certainly makes it appear that Theophanes
was using two separate sources, one of which covered material of
interest to a Greek/western audience [Chron. Pasch.), while the
other /Chr. 724) included material of Syrian/eastern interest. Rather
than supporting the idea that Theophanes was using a common
source, the arrangement of material suggests that he has simply
incorporated eastern data into his Greek source.

For the remainder of the fourth century and, less frequently, the
fifth century, there are parallels in Syriac chronicles for items for
which de Boor was unable to find a source in Greek or Latin. These
Syriac works include the Chronicle of Edessa, the Canon by Jacob of
Edessa, the Maronite Chronicle, Chr. 724, Chr. 846, the surviving
Chronicle of Pseudo-Dionysios (or Zuqnin Chronicle, to be distin-
guished from the genuine Chronicle of Dionysios of Tel-Mahre of
which only a few fragments survive), and the later Chronicle of
Michael the Syrian (on one occasion specifically citing John of
Ephesos as his source). But there is no single chronicle that has all
the parallel passages. There are also, of course, Syriac parallels for

*°7 P. Peeters, AnBoll 38 (192.0), 288-9; id., Acad. Royale de Belgique, Bull. CI. des
Letties, 17 (1931), 10-47.

Ixxxi

Introduction

Chronicon Paschale

Persian declaration
of war (532. 7)
Constantine's death
at Nicomedia

|S3*- 7-9)
Constantine's
death-bed baptism
(532.
Length of reign
(532. 12-13)
Division of Empire
between sons

(532. 13-21)

10-12)

Burial of Constantine
(532. 22-533. 17)

(cf. 6)

Siege of Nisibis
(533. 18-20)

Theophanes

Sale of Assyrians
(33- 15-16)

Persian declaration
of War (33. 16-17)
Constantine's death
at Nicomedia

(33. 17-18)
Constantine's
death-bed baptism
(33. 18-22)

Length of life and
reign (33. 22-23)
Division of Empire
between sons

(33- 2.3-55_35- 16-18)
Material from
Ecclesiastical
Compendium

(33- 2.5-32.)

Burial of Constantine

(33. 32-3)

Material from
Ecclesiastical
Compendium

(34- i-5)

Chronological Notice

(34. 6-15)
Accession of

Constantius, division

of Empire (34. 16-18,
see above). Material
from Ecclesiastical
Compendium
Cer ee
Siege of Nisibis

(34. 32.-35- 1)
Jacob's prayer

(35- i-4)

Persian suffering
and retreat

(35- 4-7)

Ixxxvi

Chron. 724
Sale of Assyrians
(xoi. 30-1)

Siege of Nisibis
32-3)
Jacob's prayer
33-4)
Persian retreat
and suffering
34-6)

(101.

Sources

items which occur in Greek sources. Where the latter are regularly
used by Theophanes we can disregard the Syriac parallel, but some-
times it is difficult to choose between a Syriac and, say, a Latin ver-
sion. It is possible that in some of the cases where there is only a
Syriac or an obscure western parallel (such as a Latin chronicle)
Theophanes may have drawn his material from a source that has not
survived.

For the late fifth and early sixth century the Syriac parallels are
generally insignificant, but after reaching the end of Theodore
Lector as a source, Theophanes may have used some Syriac material
to supplement Malalas on Justin I. But both here and for Justinian I
we are faced with the reverse problem of having before us an
abridged Malalas, whereas his original text was incorporated into
Syriac chronicles. Even so, there is no sign of Theophanes using a
Syriac source for Justinian's reign, except possibly the Canon of
Jacob of Edessa for the dates of popes. For Justin II, however, for
much of whose reign Theophanes appears to have lacked a basic
source to rely on, there are several items which are curiously simi-
lar to, but not identical with, the Syriac Ecclesiastical History by
John of Ephesos. The absence of similar information elsewhere sug-
gests that here, too, Theophanes may have turned to a Syriac source,
perhaps a user of John of Ephesos. But once he could fall back on
Theophylact Simocatta, Theophanes appears to have abandoned

Syriac material until the reign of Phokas.

15. An anti-Monothelete tract based in part on Anastasios Sinaites,
Sermo III in ‘secundum imaginem' ,'°* but also incorporating other
material that appears in the Synodicon vetus of C. AD 890.'°° The cor-
respondence between Theophanes and Vita Maximi, BHG 1234,
may be due to the fact that the latter draws on the former.'’® The
tract in question provides the lengthy cast-forward at AM 6121 and

the notices concerning Maximus and Pope Martin (AM 6149-50).

16. A Constantinopolitan chronicle from 668 to c.720, which has
also been reproduced, less faithfully than by Theophanes, in the
Short History of the patriarch Nikephoros.'’’ This chronicle appears
to have been favourable to Leo III and showed many signs of con-

temporaneity with events in the early eighth century.

17. A contemporary biography (?) of Leo III]. Theophanes may have

drawn from it the long account of the Arab invasion of Asia Minor

ios Ed. K.-H. Uthemann, Corp. Christ., ser. gr. 12 (19851.

yog Cc. 128-46. See Syn. Vetus, 107 n. 154.

uo See the lengthy discussion by Van Dieten, Patriarchen, 179-218.
11 Cf. Mango, Nikeph. 15-16.

lxxxvii

Introduction

in 716, which appears to be due to an eyewitness (AM 6208), and Leo's
previous Caucasian mission (AM 6209). Neither item appears in

Nikephoros, which is the reason for not attributing them to no. 15.

18. A second Constantinopolitan chronicle of iconophile tendency,
from c.720, which has also been used in the Short History of
Nikephoros, the latter terminating in 769. It is not clear whether the
chronicle stopped at the same point. Here, as with no. 16,

Theophanes preserves the fuller version of the source.

19. Some snippets of western material, perhaps originating in the
Greek circles of Rome, notably the excursus on the flight of Pope

Stephen to Gaul (dB, pp. 402. 21-403. 23, misdated to 723/4).

20. Some bits of archival material, namely a quotation from the
address of Constans II to the Senate (AM 6134); the citatorium sanc-
tioning the transfer of Germanus from the see of Kyzikos to that of
Constantinople (AM 6207); the proceedings of the appointment of the
patriarch Tarasios (AM 6277); the Acts of the Council of 787. One
may reasonably conjecture that most of these items were drawn

from the archives of the Patriarchate.

It need hardly be emphasized that the above enumeration is neither
exhaustive nor certain. In the case of the lost sources and those pre-
served only in fragments other combinations are conceivable.
Besides, it is worth remembering that a medieval manuscript didnot
have the finality of a modern printed book. A manuscript often con-
tained scholia and miscellaneous additions written in by successive
owners or readers: it is quite possible that various bits of extraneous
material found in Theophanes did not come from separate ‘sources’
but were supplied by scholia in the books he used. In the same man-
ner a lengthy scholion of c.806, later expanded after 843, attached
itself to the Chronicle of Theophanes (AM 6177: cf. above, p. Ixii).

For the post-Heraclian period two more sources of Theophanes
have often been postulated, namely the patrician Trajan and the
Megas Chronographos. We ought to explain why we have not
included them in our list.

(i) The Patrician Trajan. This enigmatic figure is known from the
following notice of the Souda:''* 'The patrician Trajan flourished
under Justinian whose nose was cut off [Justinian II], He wrote a
most excellent short chronicle jxpopi/cw _ owropiov). He was very
Christian and most orthodox.’ Furthermore, Theophanes himself
quotes him with reference to the Gothic war of Theodosios I: 'Trajan

the patrician in his History says that the Scythians are called Goths

112

iv. 582.

Ixxxviii

Sources

in their native language’ (dB, p. 66. 2). Commenting on this meagre
evidence, de Boor''® suggested that the Souda confused two different
persons named Trajan, one being the author of a short chronicle, the
other a prominent general in the reign of Valens, mentioned else-
where by Theophanes (dB, 62. 10), a zealous Catholic who was killed
at the battle of Adrianople.''* It was the second, thought de Boor,
that wrote the History in which the Goths were, appropriately
enough, mentioned, and to whom applied the epithets ‘very
Christian and most orthodox’. If one accepts this hypothesis, there
remains the second Trajan, the author of a short chronicle allegedly
composed between 685 and 711; and if such a work was indeed in
circulation, the chances are that Theophanes would have known it.
Another bit of evidence (of which de Boor was unaware) may appear
at first sight to lend further support to the existence of Trajan's
chronicle: the first version of Nikephoros' Short History (the one
contained in the London MS, Add. 19390) stops in 713, a possible ter-
minal point for a chronicle written by a man contemporary with
Justinian II. Several good scholars have accepted this interpreta-
tion.''> On closer inspection, however, it cannot be sustained, for
the ending of the London version occurs in the middle ofa paragraph
and must be regarded as arbitrary. If one compares it to the longer
(Vatican) version of the Short History and to the corresponding and
more precise account of Theophanes (AM 6205), one will be con-
vinced that the flow of narrative is continuous and that no break

occurred at the point where the London manuscript stops.''®

That, however, does not entirely solve the problem. Even if it was
not reflected in the London manuscript of Nikephoros, a short
chronicle by one Trajan could have existed. But if so, what exactly
did it contain? It could have been similar to the Chron. syntomon
ascribed to Nikephoros, that is merely a list of rulers, bishops, etc.;
in which case it might have served Theophanes for his rubrics, but
was not a narrative source. Alternatively, it could have consisted of
short narrative entries dated by year, in which case we would expect
it to have covered a reasonably long span of time prior to the author's
floruit of c.7oo. Yet, neither Nikephoros nor Theophanes had any
Byzantine historical documentation for the reign of Constans II
(641-68): Nikephoros leaves a blank for those years, while
Theophanes fills them out with the help of his Syriac source, which

he supplements with a few snippets from the anti-Monothelete

"3 Hermes, 17 (18821,489-92. "4 See PLRE i. 921-2, Traianus 2.

"5 e.g. Moravcsik, Byzantinoturcica, i. 457, 532; E. Honigmann, Nouvelle Clio, 4
(1952], 290 n. 1.

"6 Cf. Mango, Nikeph. 5-6.

Ixxxili

Introduction

tract. Hence Trajan's chronicle could not have started before 668.
But even for the reign of Constantine IV (668-85) there is so little
Byzantine material in Theophanes and some of it is so confused and
misdated that it could not have come from a nearly contemporary
source. Only for the reign of Justinian II does his information
become more abundant and, if it comes from Trajan (a supposition
that does not add greatly to our knowledge), one can only conclude
that the latter's chronicle covered a very short period indeed.''”

(ii) The Megas Chronographos. This work is represented by fifteen
(or eighteen, depending on how one divides them) extracts added in
an eleventh-century hand to the unique manuscript of Chron.
Pasch., cod. Vatic, gr. 1941, fos. 24.%-24.2* and 2j2",'s They con-
cern various disasters (earthquakes, plagues, riots, etc.) ranging in
date from the reign of Zeno to that of Constantine V, but are not
placed in strict chronological order. Of the fifteen (if we so count
them), three (nos. 2, 3, and 10) have no known source; one (no. 13) is
paralleled by Nikephoros, Short History, c. 71; the remainder are
common to Theophanes and later Byzantine chronicles. The suppo-
sition that the Megas Chronographos is an eighth-century compila-
tion''? is due simply to the fact that its latest entry refers to the
middle of that century. But if we take the trouble to make a textual
comparison, it becomes at once apparent that Theophanes cannot be
derived from Meg. Chron. in its existing form. One example will be
sufficient: Theophanes, AM 6232 (earthquake of AD 740), dB 412.
6-16, recurs in Meg. Chron., no. 14 practically word for word.

Theophanes continues:

V_ow_fiaoiAevs t&wv_id_t\X7} 'V“_7"Aeajy TTTtudevra
SieAaAR/AE Tta> Aaai Aeywv, on "vpueCs ov eviropeiTe xriocu ret
Telyr], aAA' rj/j-eLs ypoaera’ajjiev tos SioiKrjTak. Kai
orrcutovoly els tov Kjxvova Kara oxoxoriviv pLiXiapioiv. Kol
Aapifiavei avto ry fiaaiXeia Kai «ns to. reirj." ivrevdev OSv
eTTeKparrjaev rj avvrj6eia SiSeiP ra 81 Kepara rots 8ioiK7]TA.L'

"7 Tt could, of course, have been the same as our postulated chronicle to c.720.
This is not the place to discuss the alleged connection between Trajan and the so-
called Epitome, i.e. the common source of the various versions of the Symeon
Logothete group of chronicles (ioth-nth cents.). See on this problem D. Serruys, BZ
16 (1907), 1-51. It should be noted that the Epitome is itself a construct of modern
scholarship.

"8 Ed. A. Freund, Beitiagezui antiochenischen und zui konstantinopolitanischen
Stadtchronik (Jena, 1882), 38-42; P. Schreiner, ed., Kleinchioniken, i. 37 ff. (who
divides it into 18 fragments); L. M. Whitby, BMGS 8 (1982-3), 17-20.

“° Thus E. Patzig, BZ 3 (1894), 470-1; E. Gerland, Byz 8 (1933), ioo-i; H. Hunger,
Hochsprachliche Lit i. 346-7; L. M. Whitby, BMGS 8 (1982-3), 1-20 and Byz 53
(1983), 312-45. M. and M. Whitby, Chron. Pasch. 192-3, are more guarded.

Sources

For its part, Meg. Chron. has:

V__ow__ssacrtaew_ISchv__ra__Rety??_ tr)tT_ TroXeu)<; Trrajdevra
TrpoaeTa*e rcny StoiKrjTais_aTraiTrjaai Kara irpoadeoiv rov
KOVOVoS KO.9' eKdOTOv vé6p.iop.a fiiAt-apioiov a eVe/ca
avoiKohop.ias T<2)V ret*wv RR)s noAews' xal eKeiOev
eTreKpaTTjoe avvr/deia anaiTeiodai Kar eVos /cai TO StKeparov

napa T<2>V SUHKJJTWV.

It does not require many words to show that the Meg. Chron. in this
instance is nothing more than a colourless abbreviation of
Theophanes (or conceivably of his source) and cannot be the source
of Theophanes. The same can be said of no. 12 (earthquake in
Syria-Palestine,- plague at Constantinople), which is an abbrevia-
tion, and a particularly clumsy one at that, of Theophanes, p. 422. 25
ff., while no. 13 is clearly derived from Nikephoros and not the other
way round. The only possible argument to the contrary would be
that the extracts preserved in the Vatican manuscript are them-
selves the abbreviation of a fuller Meg. Chron., but that would lead
us into the realm of needless speculation. In sum, the Meg. Chron.,
as represented by the fifteen extracts, should be regarded as a com-
pilation of the ninth century or later, dependent on Theophanes,
Nikephoros, possibly the full Malalas, and another, unknown

source.

After AD 780 no identifiable source can be detected in Theophanes.
That does not mean that his account from that point onwards relies
on oral testimony and personal recollection alone. It is highly likely
that he had certain written documents before him and an attempt to
identify them has been made by others.'*® We shall refrain from dis-
cussing this topic, which would call for a great deal of space without

leading us to any solid conclusions.

Treatment of Sources

Given that the Chronicle is a file of the sources we have attempted
to list, the reader will want to know how accurately Theophanes has
handled them. The best evidence should come from those sources
that survive in full, namely Prokopios' Persian and Vandal Wars
(Theophanes appears not to have had access to the Gothic Wars],
Theophylact Simocatta, and George of Pisidia. In these cases Theo-

phanes generally reflects the source accurately for the information

120

eg. by P. Speck, Konstantin VI, 389-97.

xcl

Introduction

he provides and his selection is sensible. His technique fits our
description of a file of passages, often quoting in full, sometimes
picking key words or phrases (or synonyms for them), so that even as
a precis he sticks closely to the phraseology of the original, even if
he omits several pages of his source between the beginning and end
of asentence. Occasionally the effect is unfortunate. Thus, ‘the most
gentle Constantine . . . ordered his [Licinius'] decapitation by the
sword’ (AM 58I1S). In Theophanes' source, Alexander the Monk, the
epithet 'most gentle’ is appropriate because it refers to an item
which Theophanes omits in his linking of two separate sentences.
But this does illustrate Theophanes' concern to follow closely the
actual wording of his source. There are, however, places where
Theophanes misrepresents’ his _ source. For Prokopios’ and
Theophylact this is usually because he has failed to sort out a com-
plicated sentence or an obsolete term (such as a parasang, as at AM
6086, 6092) or sometimes where he has been clumsy in attempting
to link two sources. Such cases are discussed in the notes. There
may also be a few instances where Theophanes has deliberately
changed the evidence of his source. Some interesting examples are
discussed below, but it needs stressing that in these cases the text is
often in doubt.

Where we are dealing with a source which only survives in an
abbreviated form, we cannot make such a close comparison, but in
Theophanes' treatment of Malalas interesting points do arise.
Malalas is Theophanes' major source for Justin I and Justinian I, yet
Malalas' own account, especially of Justinian's reign was clearly
very uneven. We can divide Theophanes' use of Malalas, Book xviii,
on Justinian into three sections. For the first seven years of
Justinian's reign (527-33) Malalas is detailed (Bonn edn., pp. 425-78),
averaging over seven pages a year. Theophanes here omits some 46
events, including everything from pp. 457-77 apart from the mission
to Ethiopia, which he transfers to the reign of Justin II, and the Nika
riot. He also changes Malalas' dates on at least ten occasions, some-
times by long periods. From 534 to 561 Malalas' treatment is by con-
trast scanty,.devoting only 13 pages to 28 years (Bonn edn., 478-90).
For this period Theophanes omits little (6 or 7 items) and makes only
minor chronological changes, which are explicable on other
grounds, but he also transfers to this period eight of the ten items
from the earlier section for which he has altered Malalas' chronol-
ogy. Finally, Malalas becomes relatively detailed again until our
manuscript breaks off, with some six pages devoted to two years,
562-63 (Bonn edn., pp. 490-6). Here, as with the first section,

Theophanes is again selective, omitting six of Malalas' eleven items.

XCiV

Sources

It is clear that Theophanes felt free to rearrange Malalas' material
and, in particular, reject his chronology. Where Malalas provides an
indiction date, Theophanes is likely to accept it, though usually
omitting the indiction itself. Occasionally Theophanes accepts the
figure but transfers the date to a different indiction cycle, that is a
period of 15 or 30 years later, and, on one occasion, 15 years earlier.
Since the cycles were not numbered, it was not an unreasonable
approach for dealing with dates which he may have doubted on other
grounds. We can only guess what those grounds may have been, but
it is noticeable that Theophanes fills 'years' for which he had no
material from'‘years' for which his source material was abundant. In
other words, where Malalas is detailed, perhaps unduly so in
Theophanes' view, Theophanes is selective and prepared to alter his
source's chronology. But where Malalas is short of information,
Theophanes accepts almost everything including the chronology
and even supplements these lean years with material from the rich
years. In addition to the transfers of material for Justinian's reign, we
should also note Constantine's first year, about which Theophanes
may well have felt something had to be said, but for which he had no
datable material, and much of the reign of Justin II, for which he
appears to have had no easily available source, that is after the end
of Malalas and before the opening of Simocatta. For these years
Theophanes' account is largely made up of gobbets of information
and misinformation, which he has done his best to attribute to
Justin II, even occasionally using his own chronological rubrics to
date other events (unfortunately wrongly).'*’

There are also places where Theophanes' inclusion of material is
somewhat odd. His use of Prokopios' Persian Wars for a couple of
years of Anastasios’ reign shows that he knew that work, but for
Justinian's reign, where one might have expected Theophanes to
make considerable use of the Persian Wars, he selects just one
episode, Belisarios' theatrical performance to outwit Khusro. This
highly select usage is the more remarkable given his lengthy precis
of the whole of the two books of the Vandal Wars and his use of
Malalas' scanty notices (instead of Prokopios' detailed information)
for Khusro's devastating invasions in 540 and 541. The overall ten-
dency is to play down the failures and emphasize the military suc-
cesses of the great Justinian, leading to peace in Africa (AM 6026, the
central point of his account of the reign) andin Thrace (AM 6032) and

“*" This evidence of an author striving desperately to establish a chronology from
intractable material is also evident in Theophanes' treatment of the Gothic and
Vandal invasions and is more in keeping with our knowledge of George Synkellos
than of Theophanes.

XCilll

Introduction

reaching a peak with Belisarios 'having gained greater glory from his
achievement in Persia than he did in Africa’ (AM 6033). Justinian's
reign is seen in terms of military success as long as his orthodoxy
lasted. His lapse into heresy is then post-dated to his last year and
made responsible for his death, 'with God acting in time’. The ques-
tion is whether the effect we discernis the result of chance or delib-
erate selection.

This leads us to the places where Theophanes has misrepresented
the evidence of his sources. There can be little doubt that sometimes
this was the result of incompetence or carelessness, for example in
claiming that Kyrnos was the name of Sardinia rather than Corsica
(AM 6026, n. 58) or calling Antaios Asklepios (AM 6026, n. 68). But
changing ‘sycophants’ into ‘soldiers’ in Justin II's abdication speech
(AM 6070) appears to be a deliberate change. Likewise there is the
rearrangement of the order of the letters between Gelimer and
Justinian, so that Justinian is no longer seen making overtures and
being rebuffed but as the dignified emperor who responds to the bar-
barian's entreaty. Since elsewhere Theophanes follows Prokopios'
sequence mechanically, it is difficult not to see the change here as
deliberate. Other changes are more obvious. At the beginning of
Justin I's reign the pious and orthodox emperor recalls and honours
the equally orthodox Vitalian and in unison the pair give the reigna
good start against heresy (AM 6011) after the impious reign of
Anastasios, ‘who ruled wickedly as emperor’ (AM 5982, n. 9, 6010).
But in Justin's second year any source available to Theophanes
would have said that the emperor murdered Vitalian, probably in the
palace. Instead, Theophanes assures us that Vitalian was killed by
the people of Byzantium. Theophanes has simply rejected a source
or sources that were inconsistent with his interpretation.

Theophanes does, therefore, introduce a bias into his Chronicle by
tampering with his source material. It needs stressing that this
appears to happen only occasionally and that usually the change is
slight in phraseology, though often crucial for the meaning. This is
perhaps most obvious in Theophanes' use of Theodore Lector, his
main source for much of the fourth and almost all of the fifth cen-
turies. Here there is the added problem of dealingwith a fragmentary
abridgement which makes certainty in interpretation virtually
impossible. But although Theophanes frequently reproduces verba-
tim the text of the abridged Theodore, a consistent feature is the
addition of a word or two which colour the original. Thus at AM 5860
Theophanes, in the course of a half-page of narrative on Valens, adds
‘illegally’, ‘illegal’, ‘impious’, and ‘unholy’ to Theodore's neutral

account.

XCiV

Textual Transmission

In the latter part of the Chronicle an anti-Bulgarian bias, quite
understandable in the context of the early ninth century, is repeat-
edly apparent by comparison with the parallel account of
Nikephoros. Theophanes sometimes omits incidents in which the
Bulgarians win a success or act ina manner helpful to the Empire.

To sum up, Theophanes for the most part follows the wording of
his sources very closely, even when this produces an inappropriate
sense. He tends to follow other chronicles verbatim, but generally
simplifies more literary wo.rks. He does, however, occasionally
change the trend of his source by the substitution of a key word or
by the addition of emotive qualifiers and sometimes by a more seri-
ous alteration. His dates are not to be trusted without supporting
evidence, and he will select or omit material to suit his interpreta-
tion. That interpretation, however, is mainly a simple association of
success with orthodoxy and failure with heresy so that, despite the
tampering, Theophanes is still essentially stringing together a

dossier of extracts from earlier writers.'*”

V. TEXTUAL TRANSMISSION

Our translation is based on C. de Boor's excellent edition. In the very
few cases when we have departed from it a note to that effect has
been appended.

De Boor's text may be described as eclectic and rests on the fol-

lowing manuscripts:

a Vatic. Barber. 553, 16th cent., down to p. 17. 16 of the edition
only.

b Vatic, gr. 154, 12th cent., down to p. 173. 23, with an important
lacuna from 107. 27 to 141.1. Regarded by de Boor as the best of
the Greek MSS.

c Vatic, gr. 155, formerly dated to the ioth/nth cent., but now
regarded to be of the late 9th. Down to p. 461. 10.

d Paris, gr. 1710, 10th cent., erroneously regarded by de Boor as the
oldest witness. This is not so mucha copy as a paraphrase, espe-
cially so inthefirst third of the text. Breaks offat p. 479.13, with
further lacunae from 69. 4 to 71. 4 and from 107. 27 to 108. 15.

8 Paris, gr. 1709, 16th cent., an apographon of d, hence worthless
except where it supplies missing portions of d.

e Vatic. Palat. 395, 16th cent.

“'* Theophanes' manner of treating his sources has been discussed by I. S. Cicurov,
VizViem 37(1976], 62-73 with regard to Prok., and by Ja. N. Ljubarskij, ibid. 45 (1984),
72-86 with regard to Theoph. Sim., Prok., Mai., and Geo. Pisid. Their conclusions dif-
fer somewhat from ours.

XCV

Introduction

f Paris. Coisl. 133, 12th cent., also containing parts of the Chron.
syntomon of Nikephoros and of Synkellos. The text of
Theophanes has numerous gaps after p. 216. 35.

g Paris, gr. 1711, nth cent., the well-known corpus of Byzantine
historians.

h Vatic, gr. 978, nth/izih cent., the first 38 folios added in the
16th century. Down to p. 468. 28.

m Monac. gr. 391, 16th cent.

A The Latin translation of Anastasius Bibliothecarius, on which
see below.
denotes the consensus of c and d (and now o).

y denotes the consensus of e, f, and m.

Z denotes the consensus of g and h.

De Boor did not use a tiny fragment of the second half of the tenth
century at Basle,'** a number of Renaissance copies and, more seri-
ously, Christ Church, cod. Wake 5 (siglum o) of the late ninth cen-
tury, written in a hand very similar to, and perhaps identical with,
that of c.'*4 The existence of the Christ Church manuscript, which
contains the entire text except the last line, remained generally
unknown until it was brought to the attention of specialists by ]. B.
Bury.'*? A partial collation of it, corresponding to de Boor's pp.
461-503, was published by N. G. Wilson.'*® This sample enables us
to say that a full collation will not materially affect the rest of the
text.

De Boor's stemma (ii. 550), modified by N. G. Wilson's observa-

tions on o, may be expressed as follows.
ee Tree.
eee
[\
a. oh eX Z
i a a
a ora g h
ar f

s/ ae ~~

13 On which see J. E. Powell, BZ 36 (1936), 5-6.
124 See below, n. 133. "5 BZ 14 (1905), 612-13.
zs DOP 26 (1972), 357-60.

xCVvi

Textual Transmission

In view of the highly fragmentary state of the independent group ab,
the Latin translation of Anastasius (also edited by de Boor)'*’
assumes considerable importance. This was made in Rome between
871 and 874 in the interests of John Immomdcs, who was then com-
piling his historico-ecclesiastical encyclopaedia.'?® The Greek man-
uscript Anastasius had before him may have been acquired in the
course of his mission to Constantinople in 869-70 and was probably
similar in content to some of the extant Greek manuscripts, since it
also included part of Synkellos and the Chron. syntomon of
Nikephoros (like f and o). It was, however, of much better quality
than the entire Greek tradition, except a and b. Unfortunately,
Anastasius did not translate it in full: he made only short excerpts
down to the death of Theodosios II, fuller ones to the death of
Justinian I, but from the accession of Justin II (and even more closely
from that of Maurice) he provided a full translation.

As long as it was believed that the oldest manuscript of
Theophanes was not earlier than the late tenth century it was possi-
ble to speculate, in view of the undoubted superiority of Anastasius,
that the chronicler's text underwent considerable deterioration
between 0.850 and g50. The view that de Boor's Theophanes was not
the ‘real’ Theophanes was argued at length by a Russian clergyman,
P. G. Preobrazenskij,'*® who thought that the authentic text had to
be reconstructed with the help of A as well as d = Paris, gr. 1710 (of

which he had a much higher opinion than did de Boor) and later com-

130 131

pilers, notably Kedrenos and pseudo-Symeon, who allegedly

had access to a better tradition than we do. It was further suggested
that the preserved Theophanes represented an inferior edition made
at the time of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, who, undoubtedly, had
a keen interest in the Confessor, as shown by the lengthy extracts he
included in his De administrando imperio, *” Besides, Constantine
believed that Theophanes was related to him through his mother
Zoe.

“7 Along with Theophanes, ii. 31 ff.

?8 See G. Arnaldi, ‘Anastasio Bibliotecario', Dizionario biogr. degli Italiani, iii
(1961), 25-37, with further bibliography.

°° Letopisnoe povestvovanie sv. Feofana Ispovednika (Vienna, 1912). This work,
which is not only very scarce but practically unreadable, was not well received. See
critical review by F. Uspenskij, VizVrem 22 (1916), 297-304, and the somewhat more
cautious one by E. W. Brooks, BZ 22 (1913), 154-5.

°° On whom see Moravesik, Byzantinoturcica, i. 273-5. The part of Kedr. that
concerns us here is still only available in the uncritical Bonn edn. (1838],

3! The major part of this work, contained in cod. Paris, gr. t7iz, remains unpub-
lished. See A. Markopoulos, *H Xpovoypafiict TOV feuSoaujueow KU o1 TR-qyes RRJS,
diss. loannina, 1978, esp. in ff.

3 Notably DAI, 22.9 ff. and 25.3 ff.

XCV1i

Introduction

The existence of two late ninth-century manuscripts of Theo-
phanes, c and o, naturally absolves Constantine Porphyrogenitus of
any blame in this respect. The deterioration of the Greek text by
comparison with Anastasius must, therefore, have taken place
much earlier, towards the middle of the ninth century, that is as
soon as it was published, and can best be explained on the assump-
tion that the Chronicle enjoyed a wide diffusion from the start. The
fact that the same scribe (or, at anyrate, the same scriptorium) made
two copies, c and 0, seems to indicate something like mass produc-
tion, which one may be tempted to localize in the monastery of
Megas Agros. Palaeographically these two manuscripts belong to
a much _ discussed group, which has been christened ‘tipo
Anastasio'.'?* It may be worth noting that anotherimportant mem-
ber of the group (Paris, gr. 1470 +1476) has been attributed to
Bithynia on the basis of its ornament,'** a conclusion that has been
tentatively endorsed in a recent study.'**? The chronicler George the
Monk, who was probably active in the second half of the ninth cen-
tury,"2° used Theophanes in a version that appears to have been
rather distinctive. At about the same time the Chronicle, including
its Preface, was extensively plagiarized by the author of the Life of
the probably imaginary St Theodore of Chora,'*”? a monastery which,
incidentally, had close links with Palestine. Further research in this
direction may prove fruitful.

In sum, we do not wish to claim that the text we have translated
is the ‘definitive’ Theophanes. There may be room for further
improvement of the text, but that can only be done in the context of

anew edition, an undertaking that will require many years of labour.

VI. LANGUAGE

It follows from our observations in Section IV that it would be erro-

neous to speak of 'the language of Theophanes': what we are offered

33 E. Follieri, 'La minuscola libraria dei secoli IX e X', in La Paleographie giecque
et byzantine, Colloques internat. du CNRS, 559 (Paris, 1977), 144-5.

34K. Weitzmann, Die byzantinische Buchmaleiei des 9. und 10. fahrhunderts
(Berlin, 1935), 40, 43.

35 L. Perria, 'La minuscola "tipo Anastasio" ', in G. Cavallo et al., eds., Sciittuie,
libii_e testi nelle areeprovinciali di Bisanzio (Spoleto, 1991), i. 316.

34 See above, n. 34.

7 Ed. C. Loparev, De S. Theodoro monacho hegumenoque Chorensi, Zapiski
Klass. Otd. Imp. Russk. Arkheol. Obsc. 1 (1904), suppl. 1-16. Its dependence on
Theophanes was demonstrated by T. Schmit, Kahriye Dzami, IRAIK 11 (1906), 9 ff.,
who supposed (p. 16) that the author of the Life used either a fuller redaction of
Theophanes or one of the latter's sources.

XCV1il

Language

in the Chronicle is a cross-section of late antique and early medieval
Greek as it was written and spoken both at Constantinople and in
the East. The appearance of simplicity it creates at first sight soon
yields to a realization of its many pitfalls, and it would only be fair
to warn the reader that our translation is not always the only possi-
ble one.

A prime source of ambiguity is provided by certain common words
that had alternative meanings: aS’ orepot meant ‘'both' and ‘all’;
8-Q/JLOS/01 either ‘people’ or ‘circus factions’, or, more exactly 'parti-
sans of the circus factions’ and even the benches on which these par-
tisans sat in the circus;'?* Xaos/ol is either 'people' or 'army',- \povos
is either 'time'/'period' or ‘year’, so that the common indication roi
avTib XP°’V ©?" either be understood ‘in the same period’ or, more
specifically, ‘in the same year'; KTL‘U) is either 'to build’ or 'to
rebuild'/'restore'; xtupiov is either ‘rural place'/‘district' or ‘village’,
etc.

In addition to ambiguous words there are also ambiguous con-
structions. The tendency of participles to become indeclinable often
leads to lack of clarity, for example (dB, p. 136) fiaoiXevoas OVV o
AvaoTaaios eyypacf>ov rurattrsor] 0/xoXoytav -napa Ev<f>r][Mtov tov
naTpiapxov . . . avaiov avTov aTroxaXwv rchv XpiOTiava>v Kal
Trjs fiaaixelas. Surely, it was Euphemios, not the emperor himself,
who described Anastasios as being unworthy of reigning over
Christians. Another cause of ambiguity is the intransitive or
absolute use of certain verbs like imppInTOj (to attack), aTrooreXXaqj,
Trep.na>. Anemperor or Official often ‘sends’, that is an order, letter,
or emissary, the object being left unexpressed; but elsewhere the
same verbs are used transitively. Take the following example (AM
5951): Tovto) rto ere1 p,ada>v Aecov 6 jSaaiAeuy Tov asikov ffavarov
TJpoTepiov Kal rr/v TOV 'EXovpov adeap.ov Trpoayojyrjv, v-epa/ias
Kaioapeiov iyXoHjaoTopirjae Kal ap,<fiorepovs icbpioev, a>y
KoivcovrjaavTas 1o> <f>6vto IJpoTepiov. One's initial impulse is to
translate, 'The emperor Leo . . . having sent Caesarius': so did
Anastasius in the ninth century (mittens Caesariam [sic]) and the
learned author of the Prosopogiaphy of the Later Roman Empire in
the twentieth, although the latter was aware that the person sent to
restore order in Alexandria after the murder of bishop Proterios in
457 was called Stilas and not Caesarius.'*® In this case TrepLtfias
should be understood intransitively: Caesarius was not the emissary
but the person whose tongue was amputated. As for the incompre-
hensible ap.(f>oTepovs, it results from the careless abridgement of

38 See Cameron, Circus Factions, 28 ff. 39 ii, s.v. Stilas.

Xcix

Introduction

Theophanes' source as explained in our note ad loc. Abridgement is
also the cause of the muddle at AM 6032: YVOVS _ Tovro 2
©evSepix’s, rrejxijjas wpos avrov [Moundos], /cat ireicr*ets, etc.,
where rreLoOeLs refers to Moundos, not Theuderich.

Looseness, or rather sloppiness of construction and the indiscrim-
inate use of personal pronouns and adjectives are the most pervasive
sources of obscurity in Theophanes. Grammatically, it is often
impossible to tell who is doing what to whom. Usually the context

helps; if not, the sense can be established by consulting other
accounts of the same events.

Chronographia of 528 Years

beginning in the First Year of Diocletian, down to the
second Year of Michael and the Latter's Son
Theophylaktos, i.e. from the Year 5777 of the World
until the Year 6305 according to the Alexandrians or
6321 according to the Romans
by
Theophanes, Sinful Monk and Abbot of Agros, the

Confessor

[Preface]

The most blessed Father George, who had also been synkellos of
Tarasios, the most holy patriarch of Constantinople, a man of dis-
tinction and great learning, after he had perused and thoroughly
investigated many chronographers and historians, composed with
all accuracy a succinct chronicle’ from Adam down to Diocletian,
the Roman emperor who persecuted the Christians. He made a very
exact study of the dates, reconciled their divergences, corrected
them, and set them together in a manner surpassing all his prede-
cessors. He recorded the lives and dates of the ancient kings of every
nation and, as far as he was able, accurately inserted, with their
dates, the bishops of the great ecumenical sees, I mean those of
Rome, Constantinople,’
those who had tended the Church in the right faith and those who,

like robbers, had ruled in heresy. Since, however, he was overtaken

Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, both

by the end of his life and was unable to bring his plan to completion,
but, as I have said, had carried his composition down to Diocletian
when he left this earthly life and migrated unto the Lord (being in
the Orthodox faith), he both bequeathed to me, who was his close
friend, the book he had written and provided materials with a view
to completing what was missing. As for me, not being unaware of
my lack of learning and my limited culture, I declined to do this
inasmuch as the undertaking was above my powers. He, however,

begged me very much not to shrink from it and leave the work unfin-

Preface by Theophanes

ished, and so forced me to take it in hand. Being thus constrained by
my obedience to him to undertake a task above my powers, I
expended an uncommon amount of labour. For I, too, after seeking
out to the best of my ability and examining many books, have writ-
ten down accurately—as best I could—this chronicle from
Diocletian down to the reign of Michael and his son Theophylaktos,
namely the reigns [of the emperors] and the patriarchs and their
deeds, together with their dates. I did'not set down anything of my
own composition, but have made a selection from the ancient his-
torians and prose-writers and have consigned to their proper places
the events ofeveryyear, arranged without confusion. In this manner
the readers may be able to know in which year of each emperor what
event took place, be it military or ecclesiastical or civic or popular or
of any other kind; for I believe that one who reads the actions of the
ancients derives no small benefit from so doing. May anyone who
finds in this my work anything of value give proper thanks to God
and, for the sake of the Lord, pray on behalf of me who am unedu-
cated and sinful; and if he finds aught that is wanting, may he ascribe
it to my ignorance and the idleness of my grovelling mind, and for-
give me for the sake of the Lord; 11 for God is pleased when one has

done one's best. II*

* Gregory Nazianzen, Or. in laudem Caesarii, PG 35: 776B; Or. in laudem Basilii,
PG 36: 604D. Often quoted, e.g. by Ignatios Diakonos, V. Niceph. 140.15. The ideas
expressed by Theoph. in the Preface closely resemble those of Alex. Mon. 4016: reluc-
tance to undertake a task exceeding the author's capability, lack of formal education,
danger stemming from disobedience, reliance on ancient histories, exclusion of any
personal contribution.

" Hardly an accurate description of Synk.'s long and learned Chronicle.
Cf. I. Sevcenko, DOP 46 l1gg2), 281.

* Ending as it does with Diocletian's accession, the Chronicle of Synk.
does not, of course, include any bishops of Constantinople. Note that
Theoph. instinctively lists the five patriarchates in their accepted order of
precedence, whereas in the rubrics of Synk. Antioch is placed before
Alexandria.

Genealogy

Diocletian and Maximianus Herculius reigned jointly at the same
time.
Their children:

Maximianus

Maxentius, who Theodora, who was married Fausta, wife of
became a usurper to Constantius,’ father of Constantine the
in Rome Constantine the Great. Great

Constantius begat Constantine

by his first wife Helena

When those [two] resigned the Empire, the Caesars who had been
appointed by them both reigned at the same time, namely
Maximianus Galerius, Diocletian's son-in-law by his daughter
Valeria, and Constantius. The latter married Theodora, daughter of

Herculius, and begat:

Constantius, father of Gallus and Julian the Apostate
Anaballianos”*

Constantia, wife of Licinius.

By the god-loving Helena he begat: Constantine the Great.
The latter, by Fausta daughter of Herculius, begat:

Crispus?
Constantius
Constantine’
Constans

Helena, wife of Julian the Apostate.

Constantine in the MSS.
So spelled as also at AM 5796. The stemma omits another brother,
Dalmatius, and two more sisters.
3 Actually, the son of Constantine's first wife, Minervina.
* Probably illegitimate.

Chronographia

From Diocletian to the emperors Michael and

Theophylaktos

AM 5777 IAD 284/5]

Year of the divine Incarnation 277

Diocletian, emperor of the Romans (20 years), 1st year’
Varraches, emperor of the Persians (17 years), 15th year*
Gaius, 29th bishop of Rome? (15 years), 7th year
Hymenaios, 28th bishop of Jerusalem‘ (24 years), 13th year
Theonas, 16th bishop of Alexandria (19 years), nth year
Tyrannos, 19th bishop of Antioch (13 years), 2nd year

Diocletian became Augustus on 20 Nov. 284 and abdicated 1 May 305
(PLRE i. 254). Theophanes' opening date is thus correct when translated into
our calendar.

* Vahram II reigned 276-93.

3 28thinSynk. 472. 2, 473. 1. Gaius was pope from r7 Dec. 283 to22 Apr.
296.

4 38th bishop (12 years) in Synk. 472. 6, 473. 4.

[AM 5778, AD 285/6]

Diocletian, 2nd year
Varraches, 16th year
Gaius, 8th year
Hymenaios, 14th year
Theonas, 12th year

Tyrannos, 3rd year

[AM 5779, AD 286/7]

Diocletian, 3rd year
Varraches, 17th year
Gaius, 9th year
Hymenaios, 15th year
Theonas, 13th year
Tyrannos, 4th year

AM 5780 Chronographia

[AM 5780, AD 287/8]

Diocletian, 4th year

Vararanes, emperor of the Persians (1 year), 1st year’
Gaius, iothyear

Hymenaios, 16th year

Theonas, 14th year

Tyrannos, 5th year

Illn this year Diocletian appointed Maximianus Herculius as partner

in his rule, it being his fourth year.1 I

° Euseb. Chron. 225c! (AD 287); cf. Mai. 311, Chron. Pasch. 511, Chr. 724, 99. 23-4.

* Vahram III reigned for 4 months in 29 3.

* Diocletian appointed Maximian as Caesar probably on 21 July 285 at
Milan, and promoted him to Augustus on r Apr. 286. Maximian celebrated
his consular fasces on 1 Jan. 287 (Barnes, NE 6). The various chronicle
sources do not mention the prior appointment as Caesar, which must be
deduced from Eutrop. Brev. ix. 20. 3.

[AM 5781, AD 288/9]

Diocletian, 5th year

Narses, 7th emperor of the Persians (8 years), 1st year’
Gaius, 11th year

Hymenaios, 17th year

Theonas, 15th year

Tyrannos, 6th year

Narses reigned 293-303.

[AM 5782, AD 289/90]

Diocletian, 6th year
Narses, 2nd year
Gaius, 12th year
Hymenaios, 18th year
Theonas, 16th year
Tyrannos, 7th year

iin this year Diocletian and Maximianus Herculius razed to the
ground Hobousiris and Koptos, cities of Thebes in Egypt, which had

revolted from Roman rule.|1*!

° Euseb. Chron. 226a (AD 293).

Chronographia

AM 5807

" Hobousiris is in error for Bousiris (cf. AM 6026, n. 16 for a similar mis-
take with the Greek article). As Maximian did not ever go to Egypt,
Theophanes may be reflecting an official statement (perhaps an inscription)
in which the emperors jointly claimed the victory. Euseb. Chron. dates this
campaign to 293 between Achilleus' revolt, the establishment of the tetrar-
chy, and the crushing of Achilleus in 298. If Ox. Pap. i. 43 refers to this expe-
dition, the date is 295 (cf. Barnes, Phoenix, 30 (1976), 180-1), but at least
Theophanes appears to be right in separating this event from Achilleus'

revolt.

[AM 5783, AD 290/91]

Diocletian, 7th year
Narses, 3rd year
Gaius, 13 thyear
Hymenaios, 19 th year
Theonas, 17thyear
Tyrannos, 8th year

[AM 5784, AD 291/2]

Diocletian, 8th year
Narses, 4th year
Gaius, 14th year
Hymenaios, 2oth year
Theonas, 18 th year
Tyrannos, 9 th year

[AM 5785, AD 292/3]

Diocletian, 9 th year
Narses, 5 th year
Gaius, 15th year
Hymenaios, 21st year
Theonas, 19th year
Tyrannos, iothyear

uIn this year Diocletian and Maximianus Herculius appointed
Constantius and Maximianus Galerius as Caesars. Diocletian gave
his daughter to Galerius in marriage and Maximianus Herculius
joined his daughter, Theodora, to Constantius, though each already
had a wife whom he divorced out of affection for the emperors. 1

AM 5785 Chionogiaphia

" Eutrop. Brev. ix. 22. 1. Cf. Euseb. Chron. 225g (AD 2911, Aur. Vict. Caes. 39. 24,
Epit. Caes. 39. 2, Chi. 724, 99. 25-6.

* Constantius and Galerius were appointed Caesars on 1 Mar. 293 [Pan.
hat. 8(5).2. 2-3. r). Contrast Euseb. Chion. nsg (= AD 290). The narrative
sources all associate the marriages with the appointments as Caesars, but
Constantius had married Theodora by 289 (Barnes, CE 288 n. 55).
Theophanes alone does not relate these events to the problem of the rebel-
lions of 296.

[AM 5786, AD 293/4]

Diocletian, ioth year

Narses, 6thyear

Marcellinus, bishop of Rome (2 years), 1st year’
Hymenaios, 22nd year

Peter the Martyr, bishop of Alexandria (11 years), 1st year
Tyrannos, nth year

ulin this year Alexandria along with Egypt was led into revolt by
Achilleus but did not hold out against the Roman attack, during
which very many were killed and those responsible for the revolt
paid the penalty.I\*

"Euseb. Chron. *6e (AD 298); cf. Mai. 308-9, Ps.-Dion a.2313 from Abraham,
p.in: Eutrop. Brev. ix. 23, Chr. 724, 99. 28-31.

" Marcellinus in fact was pope from 30 June 296 to 25 Oct. 304.
Theophanes may have confused Marcellinus with his successor Marcellus
(27 May or 26 June 308 to 16 Jan. 309), whom he omits.

* Cf. AM 5782, 5788 Aurelius Achilleus is attested as collector of a
usurper Domitianus in 297 by papyri (Barnes, NE 12). The siege lasted at
least till Mar. 298 (PLRE i. 263). Achilleus presumably replaced Domitianus
as leader of the revolt after the latter's death, perhaps in Dec. 297. The cause
of the revolt may well have been new tax arrangements introduced m Egypt
on 16 Mar. 297. See J. D. Thomas, ZPE 22 (1976), 253-79, A. K. Bowman, JRS
66 (1976), 159 ff.

[AM 5787, AD 294/5]

Diocletian, nth year
Narses, 7th year
Marcellinus, 2nd year
Hymenaios, 23rdyear
Peter, 2nd year
Tyrannos, 12th year

Chronographia AM 5807

Illn this year Diocletian and Maximianus Herculius caused a great
and most terrible persecution of the Christians and martyred many
myriads, devising all kinds of tortures and working much harm.’
Anyone who consults the eighth book of Eusebios Pamphilou's
Ecclesiastical History will know about these events.[\*

“Exc. Barocc. 142 (2i5", 21-2], Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 90. 17-19.

" This is not mentioned in standard accounts of the persecution and
Theophanes appears to have transferred material from 303/4. The parallel in
Cramer (perhaps from Gelasios) places this event after the martyrdom of
Anthimos (cf. Euseb. HE viii. 6. 6 and 13. 1), apparently in 303, and at the
time of Adaktos (perhaps Adauctus, Euseb. HE viii. ri. 2, though the story
is different).

* Euseb. HE viii is devoted to the persecutions. The reference, however,
presumably comes from the 'summary' in Exc. Barocc. 142, which here pur-
ports to be an adaptation of Eusebios, which it is not. [Exc. Barocc. is here
identical with Cramer's Eccl. Hist.)

AM 5788 [AD 295/6]"

Year of the divine Incarnation 288

Diocletian, emperor of the Romans (20 years), 12th year
Narses, 7th emperor of the Persians (8 years), 8th year
Eusebios, 30th bishop of Rome (1 year), 1st year”
Hymenaios, 28th bishop of Jerusalem (24 years), 24th year
Peter, 17th bishop of Alexandria (11 years), 3rd year
Tyrannos, 19 th bishop of Antioch (33 years), 13th year

Illn this year, after Amandus and Aelianus had led a revolution in
Gaul,? Maximianus Herculius went out and crushed them. 1°
Krasos,* too, rose up and gained control of Britain while the
Quinquegentians took Africa? and Achilleus Egypt.° However, the
prefect Asklepiodotos destroyed Krasos after the latter had held con-
trol of Britain for three years. In Gaul, Constantius the Caesar
met with an unexpected reversal of fortune, for in a period of six
hours of the same day he was both seen being defeated and revealed
victorious. Indeed, when the Alamans had just overwhelmed
Constantius’ army and pursued it right up to the walls, Constantius
followed at the rear of his fleeing army. And when, the gates being
closed, he was unable to enter within the walls, the enemy were
actually stretching out their hands to seize him. But then ropes were
let down from the wall and he was dragged up. Once inside he
exhorted his men, led them out, and gained a brilliant victory over

AM 5788 Chronographia

the Alamans, of whom six thousand fell. Maximianus Herculius
overcame the Quinquegentians in Africa. Diocletian destroyed
Achilleus in Alexandria.ll° With Diocletian was Constantius’ son
Constantine who as a young man distinguished himself in the war.
The sight of him moved Diocletian to envy and he planned to
destroy him treacherously. But God preserved him miraculously and
restored him to his father.I 1*

" Eutrop. Biev. ix. 20. 3. > Eutrop. Brev. ix. 22. ° Eutrop. Biev. ix. 23
4 Gel. Caes. frg. 4 at Theod. Lect.158. 15-19 - Philip of Side, frg. 5 (pp. 183-4).

* Theophanes' handling of sources for this year needs noting. He takes a
sentence from Eutrop. Brev. ix. 20, omits ix. 2r, from ix. 22 he takes a refer-
ence to Carausius/Krasos, reverses the order of Achilleus and the
Quinquegentians, omits the Persian invasion under Narses, and correctly
transfers the establishment of the tetrarchy and the marriage alliances to AM
5785 (292/3); from ix. 22. 2, Theophanes reduces and confuses the facts,
omitting Carausius' assassination by Allectus after 7 years of rule, so that it
was Allectus who was put down by Asklepiodotos after a further 3 years.
Finally Theophanes substitutes (from Gelasios of Caesarea) the story of
Diocletian's envy towards the young Constantine (first mentioned here) for
Eutropius’ account of Diocletian's harsh treatment of the defeated
Egyptians.

* Eusebios was pope from 18 Apr. 309 or 310 to 17 Aug. 309 or 310.

3 Theophanes has misdated this by a decade, the revolt having occurred
in 286 (Barnes, CE 287 n. 35).

* Krasos ( = Carausius), was appointed by Maximian to fight the pirates in
285, but usurped power as Augustus in autumn 286 (Barnes, CE 6-7).
Maximian used Constantius (already married to Theodora) against
Carausius, spring 288 (Barnes, CE 7, but on p. 15 inconsistently implies this
was after Constantius’ appointment as Caesar in 293).

> Cf. Aur. Vict. Caes. 39. 23, Barnes, CE 16; Maximian reached Africa by
way of Spain from the Rhine in 297 and campaigned sporadically in 297 and
298, before returning to Italy in 299 and entering Rome in triumph (Barnes,
CE 16, cf. id., NE ch. 5 for Maximian's movements 293-305).

7 For Asklepiodotos' role, cf. Aur. Vict. Caes. 39. 42; Eutrop. Brev. ix. 22;
Euseb. Chron. 227a (AD 300), D. E. Eicholz, JRS 43 (1953), 41 ff.

8 Cf. AM 5793, n. 8.

[AM 5789, AD 296/7]

Diocletian, 13th year

Hormisdas, emperor of the Persians (6 years), 1st year’
Miltiades, bishop of Rome (4 years), 1st year*

Zabdas, 29th bishop of Jerusalem (10 years), 1st year

Chronographia AM 5807

Peter, 3rd year
Tyrannos, 14th year?

ulin this year the army commander Veterius mildly harassed the
Christians in the army, after which the persecution began to smoul-
der against all.I\**

Euseb. Chron. 22yd (AD 301), cf. Ps.-Dion a.2317 from Abraham, p. ill, Chi. 724,
99° 33-5-

" Hormizd I reigned 303-10.

* Miltiades was pope from 2 July 311 to u Jan. 314.

3 Elsewhere in the chronological tables, Tyrannos holds office for only 13
years.

4 Eusebios’ date is 301. Barnes, HSCP 80 (1976), 245-6, dates this incident
to 302/3 against 297 in PLRE i. 955 which, he suggests, fails 'to distinguish
carefully enough between Jerome's additions and the original text of
Eusebios' Chronicle which he was translating’. Veturius is described as
magister militum by Jerome, Chron. 227d, oTpaToireSapxris (ie. dux) by
Eusebios, but was perhaps Galerius'praetorian prefect (Barnes art. cit. 246).
Theophanes' version is thus in line with Jerome rather than Eusebios.
Barnes, art. cit. 245-6, connects Lact. Mort. Pers. 10. 1-5 with Euseb. HE
viii. 4. 3 f. Veturius, in line with Diocletian's instructions, commanded sol-
diers to obey an order incompatible with Christian beliefs. As a result many
Christians lost privileges and some were executed. This incident is there-
fore a close precursor of the imperial edict against Christians of 23 Feb. 302.
Barnes thus links this incident to events of AM 5794 (301/2 dated correctly
by Barnes to 302/3) and to the persecution of AM 5795 (302/3).

[AM 5790, AD 297/8]

Diocletian, 14th year

Hormisdas, 2nd year

Miltiades, 2nd year

Zabdas, 2nd year

Peter, 4th year

Vitalius, 20th bishop of Antioch (6 years), 1st year

[AM 579I, AD 298/9]

Diocletian, 15th year
Hormisdas, 3rd year
Miltiades, 3rd year
Zabdas, 3rd year

AM 5791 Chronographia

Peter, 5thyear
Vitalius, 2nd year

[AM 5792, AD 299/300]

Diocletian, 16th year
Hormisdas, 4th year
Miltiades, 4th year
Zabdas, 4th year
Peter, 6th year
Vitalius, 3rd year

[AM 5793, AD 300/1]

Diocletian, 17th year

Hormisdas, 5th year

Silvester, 32nd bishop of Rome (28 years), 1st year’
Zabdas, 5th year

Peter, 7th year

Vitalius, 4th year

In this year Maximianus Galerius was sent out by Diocletian
against the Persian emperor Narses who had at that time overrun
Syria and was plundering it. u° In the first battle after they met, near
Kallinikon and Karrhai, Galerius was defeated.* On returning in
flight he met Diocletian travelling in a carriage.I\° However,
Diocletian did not receive the Caesar in a manner appropriate to his
rank, but made him run a considerable distance in front of the car-
riage.’ Later, after a large army had been collected, the Caesar
Maximianus Galerius was again sent out to do battle with Narses,
this time with better luck, since he attempted and achieved what no
one else had managed. For he chased Narses into inner Persia,
slaughtered his entire army, captured his wives, children, and sisters
and everything he had with him—quantities of treasure and distin-
guished Persians.* Returning with these, he was welcomed and hon-
oured by Diocletian who was then based in Mesopotamia.’ Both
separately and in concert they waged many campaigns against many
of the barbarians, all successfully.I 1° Exalted by these successes
Diocletian demanded that the Senate make obeisance to him and
not merely salute him as protocol had previously required. He
adorned the imperial vestments and footwear with gold and pearls
and precious stones.I\“°

u While Constantius’ son Constantine was in the East and in

Chronographia AM 5807

Palestine espousing the cause of the Christians/ Galerius
Maximianus saw how he was enhancing his position through his
intelligence of mind, strength of body, and aptitude in education,
and having learnt by divination that this man would put an end to
his tyranny and his religion, planned to murder him treacherously.
But through divine providence Constantine, like David, learned of
the plot and escaped to safety and the protection of his own father,
and with him gave bounteous thanks to Christ who had saved
him.1I°°

No known source, but cf. Euseb. Chron. 225e (AD 289) and Eutrop. Brev. ix. 22. 1.
Theophanes is simply linking Eutrop. Brev. ix. 22. 1 to ix. 24.1. > Eutrop. Brev.
ix. 24. © Eutrop. Brev. ix. 25. 4 Eutrop. Brev. ix. 26. © Cf. Alex.
Mon. 4049 ff., esp. 405 2B.

" Silvester was pope from 31 Jan. 314 to 31 Dec. 335.

* Eusebios puts the defeat in 301 and the following victory in 302. Barnes,
Phoenix, 30 (1976) 182 (cf. NE 196), establishes that 'the Roman defeat
belongs to 296 and was incurred ... in a campaign which he (Galerius) and
Diocletian waged together’.

3 This disgrace, listed in all the sources, is either rejected as fiction or a
considerable distortion by W. Seston, REA 42 (1940), 515-19, but accepted
by Barnes and used to explain Galerius' quarrel with Diocletian over the per-
secution of Christians [CE 19).

4 The victory was in 298 (Barnes, Phoenix, 30 (1976), 184—5for the terms
of peace and treatment of captives, Barnes, art. cit., H. Chadwick in W. R.
Schoedel and R. L. Wilken, Early Christian Literature and the Classical
Intellectual Tradition in honorem Robert M. Grant (Paris, 1979)
( = Theologie historique, 54), 140-1. Narses' harem was kept inviolate,
Festus, Brev. 25 (ed. Eadie, 66). Fox the value of this in negotiations and the
treaty terms, Petr. Patr., frg. 13, FHG iv. 188-9.

> In fact 'Galerius won his Persian victories while Diocletian was in
Egypt (from Autumn 297 until at least September 298)', Barnes, Phoenix, 30
(1976), 185.

For numerous other references to this, Euseb. Chron. 226c (AD 296) and
parallels ad loc. A. Alfoldi, Die monarchische Repriisentation im romischen
Kaiserreiche (Darmstadt, Xg7o], notes that proskynesis did occur before
Diocletian. O. Nicholson points out to us that in Theophanes alone the ref-
erence is to the Senate and this (unpopular) triumph would thus have been
in Rome; elsewhere behaviour in the manner of an eastern potentate was
acceptable. Theophanes thus may provide the key, again with a variant on
Eutropius' account (this time more than a mere question of translation).

7 Constantine served under Galerius during the Persian War and then on
the Danube. He accompanied Diocletian through Palestine in the winter of
301-2 and was with him in Nicomedia in Mar. 303 and Mar. 305 and pre-
sumably in the intervening period (Barnes, HSCP 80 (1976), 25r, CE 25),
including the journey to Rome.

AM 5793 Chronographia

® The story of Constantine's desperate flight to Constantius on his death-
bed in Britain is developed further in other sources (Barnes, CE 26 and 298
n. 118). In fact, Constantine left Galerius soon after 1 May 305, met his
father, who was about to cross from Gaul to Britain, campaigned success-
fully with him north of Hadrian's wall, and was with him till his death at
York on 25 July 306 (Barnes, CE 27 and 298 n. 119).

Alexander the Monk, seemingly Theophanes' source, is in general more
detailed than Theophanes here, but merely says that Constantine escaped
like David, without referring to Constantius, though that is perhaps
implied. Since the reference to Constantius is an essential part of the story,
the implication must be either that Alexander is not Theophanes' direct
source or that Theophanes is here using more than one source. The latter is
unlikely given the closeness of Theophanes to Alexander. An argument for
the former alternative is provided by the Life of Constantine ed. M. Guidi
(hereafter Guidi, Bios), which in its later sections is often word for word the
same as Theophanes. For this incident, however, its language is not close to
Theophanes and indeed it works up the incident into a tour de force which
Theophanes would not have had space to follow. The Guidi Bios not only
has the necessary reference to Constantius but also combines this incident
with the story of Diocletian's attempt to kill Constantine, which
Theophanes includes at AM 5788. That Theophanes and Alex. Mon. were
using a common source rather than either one of them copying the other is
demonstrated by the combination of this passage (where Alex. Mon. omits
an essential item) and AM 5 815 (where see n. 3) where the reverse is true. The
most economical explanation is to suggest the existence of a Life of
Constantine based on the work of Gel. Caes. which ultimately was the
source of Alexander, Theophanes, and the Guidi Bios. If Alexander wrote in
the 6th cent, and Gelasios produced his history at the end of the 4th cent.,
this Life would have been composed sometime in the 5th or 6th cent. Cf.,
however, Kazhdan, Byz 57 (1987), 196-220, who suggests tentatively a late
8th-cent. date for Alex. Mon. See Introduction: Sources, IV. 4.

[AM 5794/ AD 301/2]

Diocletian, 18th year
Hormisdas, 6thyear
Silvester, 2nd year
Zabdas, 6th year
Peter, 8thyear
Vitalius, 5th year

ulin this year, persuaded by the magician Theoteknos, Galerius
Maximianus was sacrificing to demons and taking oracles. Having
crept into his cave, Theoteknos gave him an oracle to raise a perse-
cution of Christians. 1” He invented the Memoirs of the Saviour and

Chionogzaphia AM 5795

sent these everywhere as an insult and ordered school-teachers to teach
them to their pupils with the intention of ridiculing our mystery. 1”

"Gel. Caes., frg. 3 at Theod. Lect. 158. 9-14 - Philip of Side, frg. 4 (p. 183).
> Exc. Barocc. cf. Euseb. HE ix. 5.

* Theophanes follows Gelasios' account, which maybe accurate. Cf. AM
5796 ad finem where Theophanes acknowledges use of Gelasios. On
Theoteknos' later career as theurgist, persecutor of Christians, curator of
Antioch, and provincial governor, see PLRE i. 908. He is unlikely also to
have been the pseudo-Theoteknos, governor of Galatia. Gelasios (and so
Theophanes) alone preserves the pre-persecution story. The descent into a
cave (though avrpov may simply mean ‘cell’, cf. 3 Kgs. 16: 18) is not in
Eusebios and indicates that Gelasios' version is independent (the oracle may
be that at Daphne near Antioch, still operating 50 years later). Theophanes
thus includes unparalleled but seemingly accurate evidence on the use of
the oracle by the persecutors. But cf. Barnes, HSCP 80 (1976), 252, that this
story as it stands must be false although ‘it might have a basis in fact’.

[am 5795/ AD 302/3]

Diocletian, 19th year

Sabores, 9th emperor of Persia (70 years), ist year’
Silvester, 3rd year

Zabdas, 7thyear

Peter, gthyear

Vitalius, 6thyear

In this year imperial orders were given that the Christian churches
were to be destroyed, the sacred books be burnt, and the clergy and
all Christians be handed over for torture and be compelled to sacri-
fice to idols. This was the most terrifying persecution of all, produc-
ing countless martyrs.I\**

“ Cl. Exc. Baiocc. 142, 215‘, 21-3, Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 90. 17-19.

* Shapur II, Persian emperor 3r0-79.

* There is no obvious surviving source for this entry. The first imperial
edict against the Christians was on 23 Feb. 303 when Diocletian was in the
East (Lact. Moit. Pers. ro. 1-5, Euseb. HE ix. 10. 8, viii. 2. 4-5, cf. Lact. Mort.
Peis. 13. 1).

Theophanes lists four persecutions under Diocletian. The first @M 5787)
appears to be a simple error. For the last three Theophanes has correctly
listed the steps leading to and including the persecution of 303, namely the
actions of Veturius (AM 5789) and Theoteknos (AM 5794) culminating in the
great persecution of this year. This linking is not found elsewhere.

AM 5795 Chionogiaphia

Theophanes appears to be changing sources here with the change of rule.
From AM 5795 till mid-5797 (some 54 lines in de Boor's text) there are four
passages totalling 20 lines for which de Boor could find no parallel. This is
an exceptionally high rate of unparalleled passages. Of the identified pas-
sages, AM 5796 follows Eutrop. Brev. except near the end where Theophanes
turns to a source (including a passage of Gelasios of Caesarea) also preserved
in Exc. Bazocc. 142. Then follow two unidentified passages (last sentence of
AM 5796, first of AM 5797), followed by two more preserved in Exc. Bazocc.
142, again including one from Gelasios after which, for most of
Constantine's reign, the main source is Alexander the Monk (or at least
Theophanes' and Alexander's common source) with occasional bits of Exc.
Bazocc. 142. This suggests that our unidentified passages will also have been
from the same source as that of Exc. Bazocc. 142, and so are most likely to
be from Gelasios. The unidentified passages are also all historically accu-
rate, and so should increase our confidence in Gelasios. One of these @M
5795) contains several phrases which are also in both Exc. Bazocc. 142 and
Cramer's Eccl. Hist, which may also have been drawn from Gelasios.

On Gelasios see F. Winkelmann, ByzF 1 (1966), 346-85, BS1 27 (1966),
r 04-30, Untezsuchungen zur Kizchengeschichte des Gelasios von Kaisazeia
(Berlin, 1966) and P. Nautin, REB 50 (1992), 163-83.

[AM 5796, AD 303/4]

Diocletian, 20th year
Sabores, 2nd year
Silvester, 4th year
Zabdas, 8thyear
Peter, 10th year
(Vitalius, 7th year)

Illn this year Diocletian and Maximianus Herculius in their madness
gave up their rule and assumed private status.II” Diocletian lived
privately in his own city at Salon* in Dalmatia while Maximianus
Herculius lived in Lykaonia.’ Earlier they had celebrated a triumph‘
in Rome? in which the mass [of captives taken] from Narses together
with his wives, children, and sisters were led before their carriages.
After this they retired to live in private,I\” and appointed in their
place Galerius Maximianus to rule the East and Constantius the
West.ll°° The latter was satisfied with a small share of the Empire,
was very gentle and kindly in manner and did not concern himself
with the public treasury. Rather he wanted his subjects to have
riches. So restrained was he in the acquisition of riches that he pro-
vided public banquets and honoured many of his friends at drinking
parties and so was much loved among the Gauls, who contrasted
him with the severe Diocletian and the bloodthirsty Maximianus
Herculius from whom they had escaped because of him.ll* He died

Chronographia AM 5807

in Britain after ruling eleven years,’ having earlier announced, in the
presence of the entire army, that his own first-born son Constantine
should succeed him as emperor.’ IIHis other sons, born of the same
father as Constantine, were still alive, namely Constantius and
Anaballianos, also called Dalmatius,? who were born to Herculius'
daughter Theodora. For Constantine was the son of Constantius’
first wife Helena. Their father Constantius was the grandson of the
emperor Claudius, while Galerius was Diocletian's son-in-law,
being married to his daughter Valeria.lI°

uNext Galerius Maximianus went to Italy and appointed two
Caesars." He placed his own son Maximianus’” in charge of the East
and Severus in charge of Italy.lI* But the troops in Rome proclaimed
Maxentius,” son of Maximianus Herculius as emperor. As a result
Herculius, eager for the throne once again, I k attempted to depose his
own son Maxentius™ and to kill his son-in-law Constantius” by
treachery. But he was hindered in the attempt against his son by the
troops, while the plot against his son-in-law was revealed by his
daughter Fausta. He was killed after these evil acts.II‘ Eusebios of
Caesarea states’ that Diocletian, having taken leave of his senses,
retired from the throne along with Herculius and took up a private
life. And whereas the latter ended his life by hanging, Diocletian,
exhausted by a chronic illness, withered away.1””’ On the other
hand, Gelasios, bishop of the same Caesarea, states that the two,
having changed their minds and longing for the throne again, were
killed by the common decision of the Senate.II"® So with them out
of the way and with the death of the pro-Christian Constantius, the
Empire, as I have said, fell to Constantine Augustus and
Maximianus Galerius.

"Alex. Mon. 4049C (from Gel. Caes., frg. 2 at Theod. Lect. 158. 4-6 - Philip of
Side, frg. 3. 1-3 (p. 183); Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 90. 27—8]. > Eutrop. Brev. ix. 27.
2-28. *= Gel. Caes., frg. 2 (Theod. Lect. r58. 6-7) = Philip of Side, frg. 3. 4-6 (p.
183]; cf. Gel. Caes., frg. 5 (Theod. Lect. 159. 8). 4 Eutrop. Brev. x. r. 2.
“Jerome, Chron. n&g (AD 306), 225g-226. f Eutrop. Brev. x. 2. ©.
s Eutrop. Brev. x. 2. 3. Eutrop. Brev. x. 3. ' Cramer, Eccl. Hist. go.
29-30, Exc. Barocc. 14.2, 215*, 32-4. ' Gel. Caes., frg. 2 at Theod. Lect. 158.
7-8 - Philip of Side, frg. 3. 6-8 (p. 183). Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 91. 8-ir.

* i May 305. Against the notion of voluntary retirement, see G. S. R.
Thomas, Byz 43 (1973), 22,9-47.

* Diocletian in fact went to his palace at Spalato on the Dalmatian coast.
Salon ( = Salonae), close to Spalato, may have been his birthplace (Const.
Porph. De Them., p. 58. 1-2, Zon. 12. 32).

3 Maximian retired to Campania (Lact. Mort. Pers. 26. 7) or Lucania
(Eutrop. Brev. ix. 27. 2, x. 2. 3).

AM 5796 Chionogiaphia

* As the triumph was also to celebrate the vicennalia of the Augusti, as
is pointed out in Theophanes’ source Eutropios, the date is correct. This is
an early example of Theophanes' habit of concealing the evidence by which
he arrived at a date. On the triumph see McCormick, Eternal Victory, 19-20.
Theophanes' version is not entirely clear in that 'the mass’ could refer to
carriages. In Eutropius 'the mass’ refers to people and not carriages, while
Narses' various relatives are led in front of a single imperial carriage.

> Diocletian's journey from Nicomedia to Rome occupied most of 303,
where he and Maximian celebrated their twenty years as Augusti, the ten
years of the Caesars, and a triumph for Galerius' Persian victory. See Barnes,
CE 25.

° On changes to the tetrarchic arrangements after the abdication see
Barnes, NE 197. The two Augusti both increased their territory, Galerius
adding Asia Minor to the Danubian provinces and Constantius, despite
Theophanes' claim, adding Spain to Gaul and Britain.

7 25 July 306. He became Caesar on 1 Mar. 293 and Augustus on r May
305.

5 Constantine was proclaimed Augustus by the troops on the day his
father died. He subsequently accepted appointment as Caesar from
Galerius, and was invested as Augustus c. Sept. 307 by Maximian.

9 Anaballianos (PLRE i. 406, Hannibalianus r) and Dalmatius (PLRE i.
240-1, Fl. Dalmatius 6) are generally agreed to be two separate people. Since,
however, none of the little evidence we have for Anaballianos' existence is
inconsistent with his being Dalmatius, it is possible that Theophanes is cor-
rect. This would also explain his absence from the list of family-members
who were purged in 337. For Dalmatius cf. AM 5825, n. 2, 5827, nn. 7 and 13.

* Constantine had invented this fiction by 310. See R. Syme, Bonner
Historia-Augusta-Colloquium 1971 (1974), 237-53.

"The abdication had taken place in Nicomedia and the Caesars were
appointed on the same day (1 May 305). There is no evidence for his move-
ments after this until his campaign against the Sarmatians in late 306 or
early 307. See Barnes, NE 302.

” In error for Maximinus (C. Galerius Valerius Maximinus).

3 28 Oct. 306.

“4 Maxentius had earlier named his father Maximian as ‘Augustus for the
second time’. Maximian's attempt to depose Maxentius occurred in Apr.
307 after which he fled to Constantine, was forced to resign again (Nov.
308], again went to Constantine in Gaul, rebelled unsuccessfully, and com-
mitted suicide in about July 310. See Barnes, NE r3.

® In error for Constantine (Constantius had already died). Theophanes'
error comes from assuming that Fausta was married to Constantius instead
of Constantine.

7 The varying dates for Diocletian's death offered by our sources (rang-
ing from 311 to 316) are discussed by Barnes, NE 32, who, preferring Lact.
Mort. Pers. 42, suggests 3 Dec. 314.

8 De Boor, TU 5/2 (1888), 183 n. 1, notes that Theophanes only cites the

Chronographia AM 5807

final sentence of this fragment from Philip of Side but still correctly attrib-
utes it to Gel. Caes. although Gelasios is not mentioned in the fragment as
we have it. In actual fact Theophanes quotes the entire fragment but divides
it between ‘a’, 'b’, and 'c’.

AM 5797 IAD 304/5]

Year of the divine Incarnation 297

Constantine, emperor of the Romans (32 years), 1st year
Sabores, gth emperor of the Persians (70 years), 3rd year
Silvester, 32nd bishop of Rome (28 years), 5th year

Zabdas, 30th bishop of Jerusalem (10 years), gth year

Peter the Martyr, 17th bishop of Alexandria (11 years), nth year
Philogonos, bishop of Antioch (5 years), 1st year

llIn this year’ the most holy and most Christian Constantine
At the same

became emperor of the Romans in Gaul and Britain.*

time the following four ruled with him, Maximianus Galerius with
the two Caesars, Severus and Galerius' son Maximinus, and
Herculius' son Maxentius, who had been proclaimed as emperor by
the troops in Rome. These were eager to outdo each other in their
persecution of the Christians.I]*° The usurper Maxentius, while rul-
ing Rome illegally, committed quite terrible crimes, acts of adultery
with the wives of dignitaries, murders, rapine, and the like.* In the
east Maximinus was carrying out even worse crimes, so that the two
greatest criminals, allotted to East and West, were rekindling the
war against the Christians.1°* At that time the Romans also pro-
claimed Licinius as Caesar, wishing to gratify Constantine whose
brother-in-law he was.* For he had married Constantine's sister
Constantia and was falsely pretending to be practising our religion.
It should be understood that Severus had died. I I**

lllIn this same year Peter; bishop of Alexandria, who had been
imprisoned by order of Maximianus Galerius and his’ son
Maximinus, was beheaded and underwent martyrdom gloriously.’ It
was he who excommunicated Arius,®* who was a deacon of his
church and who later, as leader of an erroneous heresy, caused many
to abandon their piety. And there were many others who in the ser-
vice of Christ won the martyr's crown at the hands of these tyrants.
Among them are Phileas, bishop of Thmouis in Egypt; Peleus and
Neilos, bishops of Egypt; Anthimos, bishop of Nicomedia;
Tyrannion, bishop of Tyre,- Silvanus, bishop of Emesa; and Silvanus,
bishop of Gaza; Lucianus, presbyter of Antioch; Zenobios, presbyter

of Sidon, Pamphilos, presbyter of Caesarea; and countless others. I\*®

AM 5797 Chionogiaphia

This Galerius Maximianus was such a fornicator that his subjects
sought anxiously where they could hide their wives. He was so
absorbed with the trickery of deceitful demons that he refrained
from tasting anything without the support of divination. He ordered
total destruction of the Christians not so much because of his own
impiety as to plunder their property.11°'° Divine retribution followed
him because of his immense licentiousness and the intolerable harm
he did to the Christians. For the organ of his intemperance developed
a grievous ulcer, too virulent to be cured by human means, anda
mass of feeding worms infested his corrupt parts; for he was also
obese."' He, realizing that he had been struck because of his unjust
murders, wrote ordinances to all places on behalf of the Christians,
bidding them do everything as they wished and to pray on his
behalf.'* When this had happened, his worst suffering was immedi-
ately relieved beyond his hopes by the Christians’ prayer, but with
the wound not yet healed entirely, he began to rage all the more,
continuing with his lawless deeds. Immediately once again there
ensued wars and revolts, famine and plagues and incessant droughts,
so that the living were insufficient to bury the dead. Thunderbolts
and terrors were sent forth so that each person thought only about

himself and many of the ordinances remained in abeyance. 14”

"Cf. Alex. Mon. 4049B-C. > Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 91. © Gel. Caes., frg.
5 at Theod. Lect. 159. 5-8 - Philip of Side, frg. 6 (p. 184), Exc. Baiocc. 14.1. “ cf.
Euseb. HE viii. 13. i-j-, Chr. 724, 100. 2-3. © Alex. Mon. 4049D-4052A.

f Alex. Mon. 4052B-4053A.

* Note that for the whole of this year Theophanes introduces material

from several subsequent years and includes nothing from Constantine's first
year. The transfer of material was presumably made to give some substance
to the opening of the great Constantine's reign. It may partly explain too the
absence of any material for the following four years.

* Constantine was proclaimed Augustus by his father's troops on 25 July
306 on his father's death. Then he was Caesar under Galerius, made
Augustus by Maximian c. Sept. 307 (not recognized by Galerius), recognized
as Augustus in the West after 308 and by stages Caesar, son of the Augusti,
and finally Augustus in the East during 308 (Barnes, NE 5-6).

3 Cf. Euseb. HE viii. 14. 2-3. The Christian tradition quickly forgot
Maxentius' early toleration and attempts to gain Christian support. The tra-
dition of his persecutions stems from his failure to restore confiscated prop-
erty and his banishment of the pope on two occasions, each the result of
discord within the Church (Barnes, CE 38-9).

4 Cf. Euseb. HE viii. 14. 7 ff.

> Licinius became Augustus 1 Nov. 308 and married Constantia in Feb.
313. The Gelasios/Philip of Side fragment does not include ‘was falsely pre-

Chronographia AM 5797

tending to be practising our religion’, which thus may be Theophanes'
embellishment.

° Severus had been put to death in Rome after surrendering to Maximian
at Ravenna in 307. It seems quite possible that all this paragraph (rather than
simply 'c') has come from Gel. Caes.

7 Peter was arrested and executed on Maximinus’ orders on 24 or 26
Nov. 311. Cf. Euseb. HE ix. 6. 2. Galerius was not involved. His edict of tol-
eration was issued at Nicomedia on 30 Apr. 311 and he died shortly there-
after. Peter is included in Eusebios' list at HE viii. r3. 7, which Theophanes
follows, as the 'first that must be recorded’. This will explain his inclusion
here at the head of the list.

8 Cf. Soz. i. r 5. Peter, who had ordained Arius, excommunicated him as
a member of the Melitian sect according to Soz. or for perverse opinions
according to Peter's Acta, though it is odd, as Valesius pointed out, that nei-
ther Alexander nor Athanasios mention this excommunication.

° This list is based on Eusebios' general list at HE viii. 13. 1-7.
Theophanes has promoted Peter out of Eusebios' list and arranged the list by
rank whereas Eusebios' list is arranged by location of martyrdoms.
Theophanes has also promoted Phileas, who earlier receives special atten-
tion in Eusebios /HE viii. 9. 7-10. 12), but omits Phileas’ three Egyptian col-
leagues.

Eusebios' list is not tied to the current martyrdom, a fact which
Theophanes has not grasped. He thus includes Phileas and Anthimos who
were martyred in 304 and 303 with the rest of the list who were martyred
under Maximian and Maximinus between 309 and 312. Note, however,
Barnes, CE 156 ff., especially his dating of Phileas' martyrdom to 4 Feb. 307.
Anthimos is included among the martyrs under Diocletian in Cramer's
Eccl. Hist. 90. 12-13, **» Theophanes (am 5755) seems to be following the
same source, which is presumably Gelasios. This appears to be an example
of Theophanes' technique in rationalizing his sources.

Those included in the list are distinguished men, including writers. This
may reflect an attempt by the persecutors to weaken Christian resistance by
the removal of their leaders.

*° This description of Galerius is not supported in earlier hostile sources
(Eusebios and Lactantius) and appears to be a simplified conflation of
Eusebios' descriptions of Maxentius and Maximinus Daia {HE viii. 14).

" Euseb. HE viii. 16 and Lact. Moit. Pers. 33 both give similar, though
different descriptions of Galerius' illness as a prelude to the so-called 'Edict
of Toleration’. Theophanes and his source are alone in implying that it was
the sexual organ that was affected. Note that Theophanes keeps Galerius
alive for another 10 years till AM 5807 (314-15). Galerius in fact died from
this illness, which should be dated to 311.

The so-called Edict of Toleration was displayed at Nicomedia on 30
Apr. 311. The text is in Euseb. HE viii. 17. 3-10.

%- Galerius' ill-health and subsequent death did indeed result in the edict

being ignored by Maxentius and Maximinus Daia.

AM 5798 Chronographia

[AM 5798, AD 305/6]

Constantine, 2nd year

Sabores, 4th year

Silvester, 6thyear

Hermon, bishop of Jerusalem (9 years), 1st year
Achillas, bishop of Alexandria (1 year), 1st year
Philogonos, 2nd year

[AM 5799, AD 306/7]

Constantine, 3rd year

Sabores, 5th year

Silvester, 7th year

Hermon, 2nd year

Alexander, 19th bishop of Alexandria (23 years), 1st year
Philogonos, 3rd year

[AM 5800, AD 307/8]

Constantine, 4th year
Sabores, 6thyear
Silvester, 8thyear
Hermon, 3rd year
Alexander, 2nd year
Philogonos, 4th year

[AM 5801, AD 308/9]

Constantine, 5th year
Sabores, 7th year
Silvester, 9 thyear
Hermon, 4th year
Alexander, 3rd year
Philogonos, 5th year

[AM 5802, AD 309/10]

Constantine, 6th year
Sabores, 8th year
Silvester, 10th year
Hermon, 5thyear

Chionogiaphia AM 5803

Alexander, 4th year
Paulinus, bishop of Antioch (5 years), 1st year

IlIn this year the most holy Constantine set about the dissolution of
the tyrants.” The impious Maxentius, having built a bridge of
ships over the river which flows by Rome, drew up his forces against
Constantine the Great.” The great Constantine feared the sorcery of
Maxentius, who cut up new-born babes for his lawless divination.
While he was in great distress, there appeared to him at the sixth
hour of the day the sacred Cross made of light, with the inscription
‘In this conquer’. And the Lord appeared to him in a vision during
the night, saying, 'Use what has been shown to you and conquer.’
Then, having devised a golden cross which exists to this day, he
ordered it to be carried forward into battle.* When the battle was
joined, those with Maxentius were defeated and the majority of
them perished. Maxentius fled with the survivors but the bridge col-
lapsed by the power of God and he was thrown into the river, just as
Pharaoh had been long ago with his army,* so that the river was
filled with horses and their drowning riders. The citizens of Rome,
who had begged him to come to their aid and were now released
from the tyranny of the wicked Maxentius, garlanded the city and
received with joy the victorious Constantine together with the
victory-bringing Cross, proclaiming him as their saviour. 1”

"Exc. Barocc. 142,, 216’, 6; cf. Chi. 724, 101. 4-5. > Alex. Mon.
4053C-4056A.

* Constantine began his invasion of Italy early in 312.

* 28 Oct. 312.

3 Theophanes' version of Constantine's vision and making of the cross is
a loose adaptation of Alex. Mon., who in fact follows the account in Euseb.
VC i. 28-31 quite closely but with more drama.

* For the comparison with Pharaoh, Euseb. HE ix. 9. 5.

AM 5803 [AD 3Io0/LL]

Year of the divine Incarnation 303

Constantine, emperor of the Romans (32 years), 7th year
Sabores, 9th emperor of the Persians (7o years), 9th year
Silvester, 32nd bishop of Rome (28 years), nth year
Hermon, 31st bishop of Jerusalem (9 years), 6th year
Alexander, 19th bishop of Alexandria (23 years), 5 th year
Paulinus, 22nd bishop of Antioch (5 years), 2nd year

IlIn this year, having gained control of Rome, Constantine, God's
accomplice, ordered before all else that the relics of the holy martyrs

AM 5803 Chronographia

be collected and handed over for a holy burial.’ And the Romans cel-
ebrated a victory festival, honouring the Lord and the life-giving
Cross for seven days and exalting the victorious Constantine. \*

"Alex. Mon. 4056A; Guidi, Bios, 24. 10-12, 21. 5.

" There is no other evidence to suggest that Constantine placed such
immediate stress on the recovery of martyr relics. The nearest evidence is a
speech made after the defeat of Licinius which refers to the transfer of relics
from cemeteries to churches (Euseb. VC ii. 40). Alexander and Guidi, Bios,
also date these events to Constantine's 7th year.

[AM 5804, AD 311/12]

Constantine, 8th year
Sabores, 10th year
Silvester, 12th year
Hermon, 7thyear
Alexander, 6th year
Paulinus, 4th year

[AM 5805, AD 312/13]

Constantine, 9th year
Sabores, nth year
Silvester, 13thyear
Hermon, 8thyear
Alexander, 7thyear
Paulinus, 5th year

IIIn this year, Maximinus, Galerius' son, who had rushed in and
given the Empire to himself, ended his life in Cilicia in disgrace.I\*
When his father, Galerius Maximianus, heard that Maxentius, the
son of Herculius, had fallen in Rome to Constantine through the
power of the Cross, he took fright and lifted the persecution of the
Christians. 1”!

" Guidi, Bios, 30. 20-2. & Alex. Mon. 4056B; Guidi, Bios, 30. 22-6.

" The errors in this entry are a consequence of the errors in AM 5797
(Constantine's first year). Maximinus Daia probably died or committed sui-
cide in mid-313 (Barnes, NE 7) after an illness (Euseb. HE ix. 10. r3-r5; Lact.
Mort. Pers. 49. 1), which closely resembles Theophanes' version of Galerius'
final illness (AM 5807, AD 314/15). Galerius certainly died in 311 immedi-
ately following the illness which Theophanes places in AM 5797 (AD 304/s).

Chronogiaphia AM582,6

Theophanes omits any reference here to Licinius' successful campaign
against Maximinus, but cf. AM 5806. Galerius' lifting of the persecution is
either a doublet for the Edict of Toleration (@M 5797) or (more probably) con-
fusion with Maximinus Daia's final edict of disputed date given in Euseb.
HE ix. 10. 6-12.

[AM 5806, AD 313/14]

Constantine, 1oth year
Sabores, 12th year
Silvester, 14th year
Hermon, gth year
Alexander, 8th year

Paulinus, 6th year

lllIn this year the most holy Constantine, driven by God's zeal,
together with the Caesar Licinius campaigned against Maximianus
Galerius who governed the East. Galerius responded by taking the
field and met them with an enormous force, relying, like Maxentius,
on the prophecies of demons and on magic tricks. With the life-
giving cross going on before Constantine the Great, the tyrant was
routed as soon as battle was joined and his army slaughtered; he shed
his imperial regalia and, disguised as a common soldier, fled witha
few of his closest supporters. Going from village to village, he gath-
ered the priests of the idols, the seers, and those famed for magic and

his own prophets and murdered them as cheats.I\*!
"Alex. Mon. 4056B-C; Guidi, Bios, 31. 3-9, and 31. 25-32. 5.

* The whole section should refer to the campaigns against Maximinus
Daia, not Galerius. The campaign was conducted by Licinius, who had been
an Augustus, not Caesar, since the conference of Carnuntum in Nov. 308.
Constantine did not take part in the campaign. Cf. Euseb. HE ix. 10. 4-6;
Lact. Mort. Pers. 47 for the similar description of Maximinus’ flight.
Theophanes makes Constantine promote Licinius to Augustus in AM 5808
(315/16).

[AM 5807, AD 314/15]

Constantine, nthyear

Sabores, 13th year

Silvester, 15th year

Makarios, 32nd bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 1st year
Alexander, gth year

Eustathios, 23rd bishop of Antioch (18 years), ist year

AM 5807 Chionogiaphia

1iIn this year, when Galerius Maximianus was on the point of being
taken alive by the most pious Constantine, divine anger intervened
and destroyed him. For a flame, kindled in the depth of his innards
and his marrow, left him prostrate on the ground, gasping for breath
with an unbearable pain, so that both his eyes popped out and left
the sinner blind, while at the same time, as a result of immense
inflammation, his flesh became putrid and fell from his bones. So,

having rotted away, he vomited up his God-opposing soul.IK

"Alex. Mon. 4056D, Guidi, Bios, 32. 5-13.

" As for 5806, this should refer to Maximinus, not Galerius. For the
description, cf. Euseb. HE ix. 10. 13-15, who, however, makes no reference
to Constantine.

[am 5808, AD 315/16]

Constantine, 12th year
Sabores, 14th year
Silvester, 16th year
Makarios, 2nd year
Alexander, 1oth year

Eustathios, 2nd year

lllIn this year the godlike Constantine marked off and allotted a por-
tion of the Roman territory to Licinius, who had campaigned with
him and who deceitfully pretended to be a Christian.’ Constantine
proclaimed him emperor® and demanded from him pledges that he
would do no harm to the Christians.u*? Thereupon through the

grace of Christ the persecution of us by the tyrants ceased.
"Alex. Mon. 405 jA-, Guidi, Bios, 32. 13-22

Constantine and Licinius met m Milan early in 313, where Licinius
married Constantine's sister Constantia. Licinius, ruler of the East, still had
to contend with Maximinus, who was technically his superior.

* Licinius had been an Augustus since 308, but in Nov. 312 the Roman
Senate had declared Constantine to be the senior Augustus.

3 The so-called ‘Edict of Milan’ (13 June 313). For the text, Euseb. HE x.
5. 2-14, Lact. Mort. Peis. 48. 2 ff.

[AM 5809, AD 316/17]

Constantine, 13th year

Sabores, 15th year

Chronogiaphia AM 582,6

Silvester, 17th year
Makarios, 3rd year
Alexander, nth year

Eustathios, 3rd year

AM 5810 [AD 317/18]

Year of the divine Incarnation 310

Constantine, emperor of the Romans (32 years), 14th year
Sabores, 9th emperor of the Persians (70 years), 16th year
Silvester, 32nd bishop of Rome (28 years), 18th year
Metrophanes, ist bishop of Byzantium (10 years), 9th year
Makarios, 32nd bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 4th year
Alexander, igth bishop of Alexandria (23 years), 12th year
Eustathios, 23rd bishop of Antioch (18 years), 4th year

llIn this year Constantine the Great, having become sole ruler of all
the Roman lands,’ gave his mind entirely to holy matters by build-
ing churches and enriching them lavishly from public funds. First he
legislated that the temples used for idols were to be handed over to
persons consecrated to Christl (his son Crispus was co-signatory
of this legislation);1°? second, that only Christians were to serve in
the army and to command foreign races and armies, while those who
persisted in idolatry were to suffer capital punishment;‘ third, that
public business was to cease for the two weeks of Easter (i.e. the
week before the Resurrection and the following week).*? Under these
circumstances a deep and calm peace prevailed throughout the
inhabited world and there was rejoicing among the faithful as whole
nations came over daily to faith in Christ, accepted baptism, and
broke up their ancestral idols.11° Constantine also legislated that in
Egypt a cubit of the rise of the river Nile was to be offered to the
Church and not in the Sarapion as was the pagan custom.1I*°
IlLicinius, before he finally went mad, went to Antioch and there
killed the magician Theoteknos and his associates after subjecting

them to many tortures. II*”

° Alex. Mon. 4057C-D; Guidi, Bios, 32. 22-8; cf. Chr. 724 101. 6-7.
> Guidi, Bios, 32. 28. "Alex. Mon. 4057D-4060A; Guidi, Bios, 33. 1-6.
4 Theod. Lect. 29 (14. 28-15. t), cf. Sokr. i. 18. © Cf. Euseb. HE ix. 11. 6; Exc.
Barocc. 142, 216', 9-10.

" Cf. AM 5808, n. 2.
* Cf. Euseb. HE x. 2-4 and VCii. 45. VC iii. 54-8 refers to the destruction
of temples. There appears to be no early evidence of Constantine (or

AM 5810 Chronographia

anybody else in the 4th cent.) converting temples into churches. See R. P. C.
Hanson, Journal of Semitic Studies, 23 (1978), repr. Studies in Christian
Antiquity (Edinburgh, 1985), 347-58, who argues that the earliest date for
this practice is about the middle of the 5 th cent.

3 Cf. Theod. Lect. 3 (3. 22-3), who says that ‘Crispus introduced numer-
ous laws with his father on behalf of the Christians’. This may refer to the
legislation mentioned by Theophanes here, but de Boor is going too far in
seeing this as Theophanes' source.

* Euseb. VC iv. 19 says that Constantine ordered pagan soldiers to pray on
Sundays. Pagans were not prohibited from holding military office until
Honorius, a measure that was revoked in 409 (Zos. v. 46) and reintroduced
in 416 (CTh xvi. 10. 21). There is no evidence of punishment for idolatry.
Heretics were by the end of 4th cent, prohibited from joining any part of the
imperial service except being on the office staff of provincial governors or
camp soldiers, CTh xvi. 5. 65. 3 @D 435). There is no mention of pagans in
this connection but sacrifice was punishable. See Barnes, CE 210-11.

> Cf. CTh ii. 19. 3 AD 389), which confirms these two weeks as holy days.

° i.e. to show that the rising of the Nile occurred through Providence and
not at the pleasure of Serapis.

7 In 313. Cf. Euseb. HE ix. 11. 5-6. This was part of Licinius'purge of
Maximinus’ supporters.

[AM 5811, AD 318/19]

Constantine, 15th year
Sabores, 17th year
Silvester, 19th year
Metrophanes, 1oth year
Makarios, 5th year
Alexander, 13th year
Eustathios, 5th year

ln this year Licinius began to set in motion a persecution of
Christians.I\*) First he pursued the Christians in the palace,ll for-
getful of the fall of the tyrants before him and of his agreements with
Constantine the Great. He also did not cease fornicating, behaving
unjustly and slaughtering Christians. The godlike Constantine
ordered him in rescripts to stop this madness” but did not persuade
him.I 1° Licinius brought about the death through torture of Basileus,
bishop of Amaseia ll* and, according to some sources, of the Forty

holy Martyrs and many others. 1%

"Guidi, Bios, 33. 16. 18. (This sentence is not in Jerome as de Boor implies.)
> Jerome, Chion. 230(f) (AD 320); Guidi, Bios, 33. 21-2, cf. Euseb. HEx. 8. 10, VCi. 52.

Chronogiaphia AM5 82,6

© Alex. Mon. 4057A-B; Guidi, Bios, 33. 22-34. 4 Jerome, Chron. 230(g) (AD
320]; cf. Euseb.Hex. 8. 15, VCii. 1-2. © Exe. Barocc. 142, 216', 16.

" Licinius, defeated by Constantine after a campaign fought largely for
dynastic reasons during 3i6-r7, had ceded all his European territory to
Constantine apart from Thrace, Moesia, and Scythia Minor and then moved
his capital from Sirmium to Nicomedia. For details Barnes, CE 70-2 (plus
66-70 for a lucid discussion of the background, omitted by Theophanes).

* eg. CTH xvi. 2. 5, 25 May 323.

3 The Forty of Sebaste were martyred on 9 Mar. 320. Apart from a digres-
sion in Soz. ix. 2 (in the context of Pulcheria, early in the 5th cent.)
Theophanes and Exc. Barocc. are the only historical narratives to refer to
this martyrdom. Yet the martyrdom under Licinius is well attested and
exactly right in context here, Sebaste (Sivas) being about 90 miles south-east
of Amaseia (Samsun). Licinius had reason to be worried about this following
a treaty between Constantine and the Persian king. Cf. M. E. Mullett, ed.,
The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (Belfast, forthcoming).

[AM 5812, AD 319/20]

Constantine, 16th year

Sabores, 18th year

Silvester, 2oth year

Alexander, bishop of Byzantium (23 years), 1st year
Makarios, 6th year

Alexander, 14th year

Eustathios, 6th year

I lln this yearin Alexandria Arius (from whom the madness is named)
disclosed his own heresy before the congregation and brought about
a schism, with the collusion of the Devil, who was unable to look
upon the peace of the Church.I \*) A most violent earthquake shook
Alexandria, with many houses collapsing and considerable loss of

life. 11°?

" Guidi, Bios, 39. 24-40. 2, cf. Alex. Mon. 4060A, Passio S. Artemii, 6 {PG 96. 3;
1257A) - Philost. 155. > Cf. Mich. Syr. i. 242 citing John of Asia’ (i.e. John of
Ephesos) for the previous paragraph.

* Guidi, Bios, continues with a short account (4 lines) of Arius’ theology.
Theophanes substitutes for this an almost formulaic account of an earth-
quake, which traditionally accompanied bad news and which he appears to
have invented (see n. 2 below). Arius (first mentioned at AM 5797) is the
major issue in Theophanes' version of Constantine. On the origins of the
Arian controversy see especially R. Williams, Arius, Heresy and Tradition
(London, 1987) with R. C. Gregg and D. E. Groh, Early Arianism: A View of

AM5810 Chronographia

Salvation (London and Philadelphia, 1981) and R. C. Gregg, ed., Arianism.
Histoiical and Theological Reassessments (Cambridge, Mass., 1985). There
is a good but brief summary in Barnes, CE 201-6.

* This is not in Alex. Mon. as implied by de Boor but is, however, likely
to have come from Theophanes' Alexandrian source (see Introduction,
Sources), in which case the parallel with a Syriac source here may suggest a
link between the Alexandrian source and Syriac material.

Dr M. Henry has pointed out to us that Theophanes has probably created
this earthquake by adapting the metaphorical language of his source, here pre-
served for us in the Passio S. Artemii. In a passage, which is otherwise verba-
tim Theophanes, it is said that 'Arius shook irdpage the Church’; cf, Theod.
HR i.10, that Arius, rev yXd)TTav xenvrsmus, ivenXyjae mv Alyymov dopvfiov
Kal Tapax-ijs, ‘having set his tongue in motion, filled Egypt with confusion and
disturbance’. Evidence for earthquakes in the Egyptian delta is almost non-
existent (though cf. AM 5934 n. 1). See M. Henry, 'Le Premier Seisme d'Egypte’
(forthcoming). Since the Passio S. Artemii is for the most part drawn from the
Arian historian Philostorgios, this passage of Theophanes can be added to
those which link him with an Arian source. See Introduction: Sources, IV. 6.

[AM 5813, AD 320/1]

Constantine, 17th year
Sabores, 19th year
Silvester, 21st year
Alexander, 2nd year
Makarios, 7th year
Alexander, 15th year
Eustathios, 7th year

In this year Constantine the Great, having learned of the Arian
movement and being considerably grieved by it, wrote to Alexander
and Arius jointly,’ counselling them to end this evil controversy and
be at peace with each other.I\* He also sent out Hosios, bishop of
Cordova, to Alexandria to look into the Arian question, and to the
East to set right the easterners who by ancient custom were cele-
brating Easter in the Jewish manner. He returned unsuccessful in
both missions.I\?

In this year Constantine the Great appointed his son Constans as

Caesar and sent him to Gaul.”

" Guidi, Bios, 41. 1-5, Theod. Lect. ro (5. 33-5), restored from Theophanes; cf. Soz.
i. 16, Sokr. i. 7. > Theod. Lect. 1 (6. 33-6), restored from Ps.-Pollux (2,78.
16-21); cf. Soz. i. 16-17.

* Guidi, Bios, incorrectly makes the letter to Alexander alone. Cf. Euseb.
VC ii. 63-72.

Chionographia AM 5814

* Constans, who was probably born in this year (320/1), was appointed
Caesar on Christmas Day 333. There is no other evidence of his ever going
to Gaul. This entry perhaps refers either to Constantine, who was appointed
Caesar 1 Mar. 317 and later campaigned in the West including Gaul at one
stage, or to Constantius, appointed Caesar 8 Nov. 324 who, while still a boy,
was put in charge of the Gallic provinces by Constantine (Barnes, NE 85).

[AM 5814, AD 321/2]

Constantine, 18th year
Sabores, 2oth year
Silvester, 22nd year
Alexander, 3rd year
Makarios, 8th year
Alexander, 16th year
Eustathios, 8th year

In this year, as some say, Constantine the Great together with his
son Crispus was baptized in Rome by Silvester.’ The inhabitants of
Old Rome preserve even today the baptismal font* as evidence that
he was baptized in Rome by Silvester after the removal of the
tyrants. 11The easterners, on the other hand, claim that he was bap-
tized on his death-bed in Nicomedia by the Arian Eusebios of
Nicomedia, at which place he happened to die. They claim that he
had deferred baptism in the hope of being baptized in the river
Jordan.I\* In my view? it is more likely to be true that he was bap-
tized by Silvester in Rome and the decrees addressed to Miltiades
that are ascribed to him are Arian forgeries, since they were eager to
winsome glory fromthis or else wanted to denigrate this completely
pious emperor by revealing in this fashion that he was not baptized,
which is absurd and false. For if he had not been baptized at the
Council of Nicaea, he could not have taken the holy sacraments nor
joined in the prayers of the holy Fathers,* something that is most
absurd both to say and to hold. 11O0ther Arians and pagans accuse
Constantine the Great of being illegitimate, but they too are lying. 1°
For his imperial line goes back even earlier than Diocletian. Indeed,
his father Constantius was a grandson of the emperor Claudius® and
he fathered Constantine the Great by his first wife Helena. He had
other sons by Theodora, Maximianus Herculius' daughter, the sister
of that Maxentius who was usurper at Rome and who was destroyed
by Constantine at the Milvian bridge (when the sign of the Cross
appeared to him in the sky) and a sister also of Fausta, the wife of

Constantine the Great. And let no one be amazed if, being pagans

AM5810 Chronographia

before their baptism, father and son married two sisters. Their fam-

ily trees are "as given belowl®

11Constantius 'the Great”

by Theodora, daughter of Herculius, sired

Constantius Anaballianos Constantia
father of Gallus (also called Gallus (wife of Licinius)
and Julian the Apostate Dalmatius) father of

Dalmatius the younger

by Helena he sired

Constantine the Great alone

Constantine the Great
by Fausta, daughter of Herculius, sired
Crispus, Constantine, Constantius, Constans, and Helena
(wife of Julian the Apostate) II*

"Alex. Mon. 4068A; Guidi, Bios, 29. 21-5; cf. Geo. Mon. 525-6. > Cf. Geo.
Mon. 484. 23-485. 1. © Cf. Exc. Baiocc. 142, 216", 45.

" For the traditions of Constantine's baptism, see G. Fowden, /RS 84
(1994), 146-70, drawing attention in particular to its links with
Constantine's Persian campaign and subsequent pagan-Christian mytholo-
gizing. There is no clear source for Theophanes here, but cf. Codex
Angelicus, 3 (Opitz, 545-6). The fictitious claim that Constantine was bap-
tized early in his reign by Pope Silvester in Rome instead of on his death-bed
by an Arian bishop in Nicomedia (or possibly Helenopolis, cf. Fowden, art.
cit. 148-51) is first found in Alex. Mon. (if this work pre-dates Theophanes,
cf. AM 5793, n. 7) and Mai. (though it also occurs in the Armenian version of
the Actus Sylvestri, perhaps composed as early as 480, see F. C. Conybeare,
BZ ro (1901), 493-4, BZ 11 (1902), 400); cf. Fowden, art. cit. 154, who, argu-
ing against W. Pohlkamp's date of around 4oo for the earliest written ver-
sion of the Actus Sylvestri, finds a date earlier than 450 difficult to imagine.
The late baptism in Nicomedia (but without mention of any Arian) is given
in Euseb. VC iv. 62, Sokr. i. 38, Soz. ii. 34, Theod. i. 32 and so was also pre-
sumably in Theod. Lect. Cf. too AM 5828. The traditional date for
Constantine's Roman baptism is 324. It is unclear why Theophanes picked
this date of 321/2, but it may be linked with Christian attempts at remov-
ing or reducing the 25-year gap between Constantine's conversion and his
baptism. See Fowden, art. cit. 159.

* Constantine built a baptistery c.315 (Krautheimer, Rome, Profile of a
City, 312-1038 (Princeton, 1980), 22) which still survives next to the
Lateran basilica (c.312/13). This was the only baptistery in Rome until the
5th cent. Theophanes may be reflecting an early version of the 'donation of
Constantine’ legend.

Chionogzaphia AM 5815

3 One of Theophanes' rare authorial comments and places where he
resorts to argument (cf. also AM 5827, n. 15, and AM 5847). The argument is
also preserved in Guidi, Bios, 30. 2-13. The issue was still alive during the
period of iconoclasm and Theophanes' own lifetime. See Mango, The
Homilies of Photius (Cambridge, Mass., 1958), 239, 255.

* For Constantine speaking in the debate, Euseb. VC iii. 13, Sokr. i. 10,
Soz. i. 18; cf. Gel. Caes., frg. 15 Winkelmann (ByzF 1 (1966), 351).

> Cf. AM 5796, n. 10 for this fraudulent claim.

AM 5815 [AD 322/3]

Year of the divine Incarnation 315

Constantine, emperor of the Romans (32 years), 19th year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 21st year
Silvester, 32nd bishop of Rome (28 years), 23rd year
Alexander, 2nd bishop of Byzantium (23 years), 4th year
Makarios, 32nd bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), gth year
Alexander, igth bishop of Alexandria (23 years), 17th year
Eustathios, 23rd bishop of Antioch (18 years), 9th year

lllIn this year the pious Constantine, seeing that Licinius was con-
tinuing his persecution in a more enraged manner and was planning
a plot against his benefactor, took up arms’ against him on land and
sea. In the clash of open war in Bithynia, Licinius was captured alive
at Chrysopolis and handed over to Constantine, who, with his cus-
tomary humanity, granted him his life and sent him to be impris-
oned in Thessalonica. Not much later Licinius, having hired some
barbarians,” would have begun a revolt, had not the most gentle
Constantine learned of it in advance and ordered his decapitation by
the sword.* And thus at last the affairs of the Christian state enjoyed
perfect peace, with the tyrants put out of the way through the might
of the life-giving Cross, and with God's partner Constantine alone
controlling the Roman Empire.I\* With his own sons appointed as
Caesars, he had the benefit of peace.I 1°* He was a man resplendent in
all respects, manly in spirit, sharp in mind, well educated in speech,
in justice upright, ready as a benefactor, dignified in appearance,
great in the barbarian wars through courage and fortune and invin-
cible in civil wars, strong and unswerving in his faith.I |° As a result,
he gained victory over all his enemies by prayer. And so he built
churches throughout the country for the conversion of the nations

to the honour of God.u°°

IlIn the same year also Martinus’ was killed after a three-month

AM5810 Chronographia

usurpation. Licinianus the Caesar, the son of Licinius, was stripped
of his office by Constantine.

In the same year, Narses, the son of the Persian emperor, overran
Mesopotamia® and captured the city of Amida. Constantine's son,
the Caesar Constantius, made war on him? and, after a minor set-
back, finally conquered him in battle to such a degree that he even
killed Narses.I 14

"Alex. Mon. 4057B-C; Guidi, Bios, 334. 1-12; cf. Gel. Caes., frg. 6 at Theod. Lect.

159. 9-14 = Philip of Side, frg. 7 from book 24 (p. 184). > Cf. Guidi, Bios, 334.
13-14, 17-18. © Cf. Chion. Pasch. 526. 1-4, [Hypoth. Arian] 3a; cf. Chr. 724,
101. 4-7. 4 [Hypoth. Arian] 3a; cf. Chr. 724, 102. 23-4.

" Parallel sources (Alex. Mon.; Guidi, Bios) run this passage on directly
from Licinius' persecution related in Theophanes at AM 5811 (318/19).
Constantine made war on Licinius in 324. Licinius, after the defeat at
Chrysopolis (18 Sept. 324), fled to Nicomedia and then abdicated to
Constantine in person (19 Sept. 324).

* 'The hired barbarians’ may be a confused recollection of a barbarian
invasion, in no way connected with Licinius, in the spring of 323 which gave
Constantine the excuse for straying into Licinius' territory, which was an
important incident in the build-up for the war.

3 Epit. Caes. 41.7 and Zos. li. 28 say he was strangled. The circumstances
are unclear. In Alex. Mon. (and so presumably also in Theophanes' source)
Constantine's epithet of 'most gentle’ is appropriate, but refers to an item
Theophanes has omitted while linking two separate sentences. Contrast AM
5793/ where it is Alex. Mon. who omits a vital ingredient in the story. Thus
neither Theophanes nor Alex. Mon. can be copying from the other, but
rather they are using a common source.

* Crispus and Constantine had been Caesars since 317. Constantius
became Caesar on 8 Nov. 324, Constans in 333.

> Many of these characteristics are listed in Euseb. VC i.19 and elsewhere.
There is a useful list of sources in the introduction to E. C. Richardson's
translation (1890).

° For churches in Rome see Krautheimer, Rome, Profile ofa City, 20-31,
for churches elsewhere see Barnes, CE 248-9.

7 Martinus is in error for Mar. Martinianus, magister officiorum of
Licinius, made emperor by Licinius after the battle of Adrianople, July 324
(Barnes, NE 15). Licinianus is Valerius Licinianus Licinius, Constantine's
nephew, who was born in 315, appointed Caesar 1 Mar. 317. Theophanes
alone, probably correctly, associates his deposition with Martinianus' exe-
cution in the same year as Licinius. Eutrop. Brev. and Jerome, Chron. have
him executed along with Crispus in 326. It looks again as if Theophanes had
access to something like the so-called Kaisergeschichte here (cf. AM 5785;
5793, 0. 6, 5794; 5818, n. 1).

8 Narses (Narseh), who was the brother, not the son, of Shapur II, probably
invaded in 336. See P'awstos 3. 21, cf. W. Ensslin, Klio, 29 (1936), 102-10.

Chronogiaphia AM 582,6

° Constantius did not make war until after Constantine's death in 337
(Barnes, CE 397 n. 146, Libanios, Or. 69. 71. Narses' death is also reported
by Festus, Brev. 27 (as occurring at Narasarensi) and by Julian fOr. 1. 24D).
Cf. Festus, Brev. 150.

AM 5816 [AD 323/4]

Year of the divine Incarnation 316

Constantine, emperor of the Romans (32 years), 20th year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 22nd year
Silvester, bishop of Rome (28 years), 24th year

Alexander, bishop of Byzantium (23 years), 5th year
Makarios, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 10th year
Alexander, bishop of Alexandria (23 years), 18th year
Eustathios, bishop of Antioch (18 years), 10th year

Illn this year the vicennalia of Constantine Augustus’ imperial rule
was celebrated. I\* And there took place the First holy and ecumen-
ical Synod of the three hundred and eighteen fathers,’ of whom
many were miracle-workers and equal to the angels, carrying the
stigmata of Christ on their bodies from previous persecutions.! \?
Among them were Paphnoutios, Spyridon, Makarios and Jacob of
Nisibis, miracle-workers who had raised the dead and done many
wondrous things.I1° The holy synod was held at Nicaea in Bithynia
and was presided over by Makarios of Jerusalem and Alexander of
Alexandria,* with Viton and Vincent representing the bishop of
Rome. As the Church of Antioch was vacant, the synod appointed
over it Eustathios, bishop of Beroia in Syria.|I* Alexander of
Byzantium was not present at the synod because of his extreme old
age and ill-health.* Presbyters took his place. Paul of Neocaesarea
was present at this council as was a great crowd of other holy men
distinguished by their lives and culture,II1° of whom Eusebios
Pamphilou has recorded much praise in the third book of his treatise
addressed to the emperor.IK° The most Christian emperor liberally
provided for everybody's needs. |II° This holy and ecumenical synod,
with the co-operation of the holy and consubstantial Trinity,
deposed Arius and his sympathizers, Eusebios of Nicomedia,
Theognis of Nicaea and those with them (except for Eusebios
Pamphilou, who for the present accepted the term 'consubstantial')®
and sent them into exile.I\" The all-praiseworthy emperor Constan-
tine was present at the synod and was an associate in all its actions
that were agreeable to God. He ordered that others be ordained to
replace those banished, and published a written exposition of the

faith that is today recited in every orthodox church. As the impious

AM5810 Chronographia

Arius was at that time present at the synod and being condemned,
Eusebios of Nicomedia, Theognis, Maris, Narkissos, Theophantos
and Patrophilos contended on behalf of Arius and, having put
together a blasphemous statement of faith, presented it to the synod.
When this was torn up, its authors, except for Secundus of Ptolemais
in Egypt and Theonas of Marmarike, wheeled about and condemned
Arius. These two were expelled and anathematized with Arius. 1” All
then dictated, subscribed to, and acclaimed the holy creed of the
faith, including the all-pious emperor.® The assembly was then dis-
missed. 11*°

In this year Crispus, the emperor's son, a Christian, died.I l'? Also
Byzantium began to be built.I1™"

llThe First holy ecumenical Synod was held on 20 May'
12th indiction of the zoth year of Constantine the Great.I]1" The

in the

synod wrote an encyclical letter’? to Alexandria, Libya, and
Pentapolis to announce the expulsion of Arius, Secundus and
Theonas. The letter also referred to Meletios,'4 who was to remain
quietly as an ordinary person in his own city; those who had been
ordained by him through a secret ordination were confirmed. There
was also a decision that Easter was no longer to conform to Jewish
custom, but rather it was to be celebrated on Sunday as in the Italian
rite.’> Likewise the all-pious emperor sent out rescripts'® every-
where ordaining and confirming the declarations of the holy synod,
while rejecting Arius along with his supporters; they were to be des-
ignated as Porphyrians,’’ their writings were to be burned, and the
penalty for non-compliance was death. 1° He published also an impe-
rial law enforcing these provisions. nAs the festival of the vicenna-
lia of his rule came round at this juncture,'® he invited all the
Fathers to the feast, reclined at dinner with them and honoured
them gloriously. He kissed Paphnoutios and other confessors on
their eyes that had been gouged out and their limbs that had been
mutilated in the persecution, receiving a blessing from them. He
exhorted all the bishops to maintain the peace and to refrain from
reviling their neighbours. The pamphlets which some had published
against one another he burned in a fire, confirming under oath that
if he were to see a bishop committing adultery, he would readily
shelter him in his purple cloak.'? He bestowed many gifts on all the
churches, exhorted the rulers of the nations to honour their priests,
and sent them all on their way rejoicing. I

1As the emperor was rebuked by the pagan philosophers in
Byzantium on the grounds that he had acted improperly and con-
trary to the customs of the Roman emperors by changing the reli-

gion, the emperorresolved to send one of the philosophers to bishop

Chtonogiaphia AM 5816

Alexander to debate with him.*® Alexander was a holy man, but
lacking in education. To the philosopher, who was skilled in dialec-
tic and talked till his tongue ached, he said 'I order you in the name
of Jesus Christ the true God to be quiet and not to talk,’ and he was
immediately silenced and made speechless. I 1®

11The emperor ordered Makarios, bishop of Jerusalem, who was
present at the synod, to search out on his return the site of the holy
Resurrection and that of Golgotha of the skull and the life-giving
wood.11"*?

llIn this year he crowned Helena, his god-minded mother, and
assigned to her as empress the privilege of coinage.||°°* She had a
vision which ordered her to go to Jerusalem and to bring to light the
sacred sites which had been buried by the impious.*? She begged her
son Constantine to fulfil these commands sent to her from God. And
he acted in obedience to her. 1’

11When, moved by a divine sign, the pious Constantine decided to
build a city bearing his own name on the plain before Troy above the
tomb of Ajax where, so they say, the Greeks, campaigning against
Troy, had established their anchorage, God commanded him in a
dream to build the present Constantinople at Byzantium. Having
built it lavishly with fine houses, he transplanted notables from
Rome, and having selected people according to their descent from
other places, and graciously given them large houses, he made them
inhabit the city.11" At that time the Christ-loving emperor built the
church of Holy Eirene, and of the Apostles and of St Mokios*‘ and of
the Archangel at Anaplous.11‘** He ordered that the pagan temples of
idols be destroyed and churches built.*® It was then that the temple
of Asklepios at Aigai and that of Aphrodite at Aphaka and many
others were demolished. 1” He made a gift of the revenue from these
to the churches. I\* At that time many races who had earlier overrun
Roman territory came forward to be baptized because of the miracles
performed by captive priests who had been taken prisoner during the
reign of Gallienus. These included Goths, Celts, and the western
Galatians. And now, under Constantine the victorious, many races
were baptized, hastening to Christ.*? The inland Indians were con-
verted to Christ when Meropios, a philosopher from Tyre, taking
along his disciples Aidesios and Frumentius, arrived there to inves-
tigate the region and taught them the word of God. Athanasios
appointed Frumentius the first bishop among them. Similarly the
Iberians were converted in his reign when they saw the miracles per-
formed by a captive Christian woman, and the mist that fell on the
eyes of their emperor when hunting. Rufinus relates these events,

having heard them from that very emperor of the _ Iberians,

AM5810 Chronographia

Bakkourios. 11*® Likewise the Armenians were fully converted under
him, receiving their salvation through Tiridates their emperor and
Gregory their bishop.1i**? It was then, too, that there flourished
Dorotheos, bishop of Tyre,*?® a man who had suffered much under
Diocletian, experiencing both exile and torture. He left behind many
writings in both Latin and Greek, being very skilled in both lan-
guages and very learned through his natural cleverness. He wrote an
accurate account of the bishops of Byzantium and many other
places. After his return from exile, he was present at the synod and
then, after regaining his own see, he survived until Julian the
Apostate. And since that cursed man did not maltreat Christians
openly, but in secret through his officers, the blessed Dorotheos
again went to Odyssopolis where, arrested by Julian's officers and
subjected to many outrages, he died in extreme old age under torture

for his confession of Christ, being by then 107 years old.1\**

"Theod. Lect. 20 (10. 29-30), cf. Soz. i. 25; cf. Chr. 724, 102. 34-5. > Alex.
Mon. 4060B (not very close). Cf. Guidi, Bios, 637-8 (close at 638. 4-5); Chr. 724, 101.
9. © Cf. Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 91.2, for first 3 names only,- Sokr. i. 11-12, Soz. i.
10-11. 4 Cf. Soz. i. 17. Soz. simply names Makarios first. He does not say who
presided. See n. 2. © Cf. Soz. i. 17, Theod. HE i. 7. f Cf. Sokr. i. 8.
s Cf. Theod. HE i. 8. Cf Soz. i. 21, " Alex. Mon. 4061A.
' Theod. Lect. 15 (7. 29-8. 29), restored from Ps.-Pollux, 280. 7-16; cf. Theod. HE i. 7.
* Cf. Sokr. i. 8, along chapter in which Euseb. VC iii is cited several times and which
here appears to draw on VC iii. 14. ‘Cf. Soz. i. 5. ™ Cf. Sokr. i. 16.
" Theod. Lect. 21 (11. 32-3); cf. Sokr. i. 13. ° Theod. Lect. 17-18 (8. 34-9. 33),
restored from Ps.-Pollux, 280. 24-282. 20; cf. Sokr. i. 9, Theod. HE i. 10.
f Theod. Lect. 20 (10. 29-11. 30), cf. Theod. HE i. 11, Soz. i. 29. 1 Theod. Lect.
14 (7. 21-8); cf. Soz. i. 18; Guidi, Bios, 641. 15-642. 2. ' Alex. Mon. 4061A;
Guidi, Bios, 642. 2-8 (with additions). * Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 92; Guidi, Bios,
642. 8-10; cf. Theod. Lect. 26 (13. 22-4), Soz. ii. 2. ' Alex. Mon. 4061B; Guidi,
Bios, 642. 10-16. " Theod. Lect. 27 (13. 25-14. 22); cf. Soz. ii. 3, Chr. 724, 101.
21-3. ’ Theod. Lect. 28 (14. 23-24); cf. Soz. ii. 3, Cramer, Eccl. Hist. ii. 92,
Guidi, Bios, 338. 12-19. Theod. Lect. 29 (14. 27-15. 14); cf. Soz. ii. 5, Sokr. i.
18. *Cf.AM5809. Y Theod. Lect. 30-2 (15. 15-29), mainly restored from
Ps.-Pollux 304. 16-306. 3, 306. 20—2; cf. Soz. ii. 6, Sokr. i. 19. * Theod. Lect. 34
(17. 15-18); cf. Soz. ii. 8; Euseb. HE v.5; Geo. Mon. 468. 5-469. 4. “2 Ps.-
Dorotheos in Chron. Pasch. ii. 120B; cf. AM 5854.

On the term ecumenical, see H. Chadwick, JTS NS 23 (1972), 132-5. The
synod met in 325 (not 323/4). The traditional figure of 318 is probably sym-
bolic, based either on Abraham's servants (Gen. 14: 14) orpossibly the Greek
numeral TIH being interpreted as the Cross (T) plus the first two letters of
‘Jesus’ (IH).

* Theophanes is the only source that names the presidents. He may have
deduced them simply from the absence of the patriarchs of Rome,
Constantinople, and Antioch. Eustathios of Antioch, according to Theod. i.
7, cf. i. 6, was present and spoke first, from which A. E. Burn, The Council

Chronogiaphia AM 582,6

of Nicaea (London, 1925), 28, inferred that Eustathios presided. P. Batiffol,
La Paix constantinienne et le catholicisme, 4th edn. (Paris, 1929), 331-2,
argues on unconvincing evidence that Hosios/Ossios presided, as does T. D.
Barnes (with more plausibility], AJAH 3 (1978), 57. Barnes's main point, that
Constantine did not preside, is borne out by Theophanes.

3 This is at odds with Theophanes' rubric which makes this Eustathios'
tenth year. The death of Eustathios' predecessor, Philogonos, on 20 Dec.
324 was followed by rioting over the succession. Theodoret implies
that Eustathios had been appointed in Antioch and before Nicaea, presum-
ably at the Synod of Antioch, which led to Nicaea and which Theophanes
omits.

* Theophanes' ultimate sources here (Soz. and Theod.) both say that it
was the pope (wrongly named as Julius in Theod.) who was absent because
of old age and ill-health. Theophanes' or his intermediate source (presum-
ably Theod. Lect.) has transferred this to Alexander, whose absence is not
noted in either Soz. or Theod.

> Euseb. VC iii. 7-9, cited by Sokr. i. 8.

© Eusebios, together with Theodotos of Laodikeia and Narkissos of
Neronias, had been excommunicated for heresy (i.e. Arianism) at the Synod
of Antioch, but were to be given the opportunity of recanting at the synod
proposed for Ancyra, which Constantine transferred to Nicaea. Eusebios
arrived at Nicaea with a creed proving his orthodoxy. Constantine himself
asked Eusebios to add the necessary phrase on consubstantiality, to which
Eusebios reluctantly agreed. See Barnes, CE 213-16.

7 Although Theophanes' direct source does not survive, the material is
all to be found in a combination of Euseb. VC iii. 6-10, Sokr. i. 8, Soz. i. 17,
19, Theod. HE i. 7, and thus presumably in Theod. Lect.

8 On the relationship between this creed and what is generally known as
the Nicene Creed, see J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds, 2nd edn.
(i960), 205-62.

° Theod. HE i. 8, cites here Eustathios of Antioch ( = frg. 32).

© Crispus was executed by Constantine in 326, apparently for a supposed
sexual offence of some kind. For the date, see PLRE i. 233. Theophanes' date
goes back to Soz. (that Crispus died in Constantine's twentieth year).

" 8 Nov. 324.

20 May may be correct, but Theod. Lect.'s source (Sokr.) has both prob-
ably confused the day of accepting the creed with the opening day and also
transcribed the month incorrectly, as the Latin sources give the date for
accepting the creed as 19 June (ie. a.d. xiii Kal. Iun. for a.d. xiii Kal. Jul.): see
E. Schwartz, Gesammelte Schriften, iii (Berlin, 1959), 81.

8 In 325, not 324 as here.

‘4 Bishop of Lykopolis, who had without authority carried out the duties
of Peter, bishop of Alexandria (who had fled during the persecution of
Maximinus), and in effect developed his own schismatic church network,
including monasteries, which survived to the 8th cent. See H. I. Bell, Jews
and Christians in Egypt (London, 1925), ch. II, 'The Melitian Question’.

*® ie. on Sunday rather than 14 Nisan.

AM5810 Chronographia

Constantine stresses his role as a Christian emperor.

"’ Porphyrios (c.232-303), a Neoplatonist philosopher, had written inter
alia a 15-book treatise against the Christians, the burning of which was
again ordered in 448. Constantine's letter so describing the Arians was writ-
ten in 332 in response to an outburst by Arius during his quarrel with
Athanasios: Barnes, CE 233, Opitz, Urkunde, 33. For context AM 5827a (pp.
30-1 de Boor).

8 The celebration began on 25 July 325 in Nicomedia (Jerome, Chron.
23ie).

*? Constantine's object was to prevent the public from finding an excuse
for sin in the behaviour of clergy. See Theod. HE i. 11. (Theod. Lect.'s source
here). The statement is the more surprising in that Constantine's legislation
on sexual misdemeanours was particularly harsh. See Barnes, CE 219-20.

*° Cf. Soz. 1. 18, who preserves a more complex story.

* Cf. Euseb. VC iii. 29-30.

* Cf. Euseb. VC iii. 47, who links the issue of coins bearing her portrait
with her proclamation as Augusta. Helena appears on coins immediately
after Licinius' defeat. She perhaps was proclaimed Augusta (with Fausta)
when Constantius became Caesar (i.e. 8 Nov. 324).

3 Cf. AM 5817 for discussion.

*4 The reference to St Mokios, though in Theod. Lect., does not appear in
Theod. Lect.'s sources. St Mokios being Constantinople's main local saint,
Constantinople was later (330) dedicated on St Mokios' feast day (11 May).
Some (inferior) MSS of Theophanes include Hagia Sophia. Euseb. VC. iii. 48
says merely that Constantine built sacred edifices including memorials of
martyrs. Sokr. i. 16 credits Constantine with Holy Eirene and the church of
the Holy Apostles. Soz. mentions the Archangel Michael (ii. 3) and later the
Holy Apostles (ii. 34). Theod. Lect. has St Mokios and the church of the
Archangel at Anaplous but credits Constantius with the Holy Apostles. For
the development ofa list of churches attributed to Constantine in Byzantine
sources, see Dagron, Naissance, 391-409.

The long list in Guidi, Bios, virtually proves it is late, especially the two
churches of the Archangel which are needed to explain Anaplous.

*5 On the European side of the Bosporus. See J. Pargoire, IRAIK 3 (1898),
60 ff.
6 Pagan temples in Constantinople were not destroyed until the time of
Theodosius I at the earliest. For the destruction of Aigai (in Cilicia), at
Aphake (in Phoenicia/Syria) and ‘everywhere’, Euseb. VC iii. 54-6.

°7 Cf. am 5810.

8 On Bakkourios (Bacurius) and the conversion of Iberia, see now
Braund, Georgia, 246-52.

*? For a balanced account of the conversion of Armenia see R. W.
Thomson, HUS 12/13 (1988/9), 28-45.

° Dorotheos of Tyre does not seem to have ever existed. The formula
‘there flourished’ suggests that the source was a chronicle of the Eusebian
type. Theophanes has omitted to mention Dorotheos' first flight to

Chronographia AM 5817

Odyssopolis during Diocletian's persecution, so that 'Dorotheos again went
to Odyssopolis' is left unexplained. Cf. Syn. CP 124 (Oct. 9), 602 (Apr. 14),
731-3 (June 6); B. Latysev, Menologii anonymi Byzantini. . . quae supersunt
(St Petersburg, 1911-12), ii. 18-19 (J""*); -BHG suppl. (vol. 3); T. Schermann,
ed., Prophetarum vitae fabulosae (Leipzig, 1907). Cf. also Mich. Syr. i. 289.

AM 5817 (“” 374/s]

Year of the divine Incarnation 317

Constantine, emperor of the Romans (32 years), 21st year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 23rd year
Silvester, bishop of Rome (28 years), 25th year
Alexander, bishop of Constantinople (23 years), 6th year
Makarios, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), nth year
Alexander, bishop of Alexandria (23 years), 19th year
Eustathios, bishop of Antioch (18 years), nth year

Illn this year Jews and Persians, seeing that Christianity was flour-
ishing in Persia, brought an accusation before the Persian emperor
Sabores against Symeon, archbishop of Ctesiphon, and against the
bishop of Seleukeia. They were charged with being friends of the
Roman emperor and spies of Persian affairs. As a result a great per-
secution took place in Persia and a great many people were adorned
with martyrdom for Christ's sake.’ Among these Ousthaxades,
Sabores' teacher, the archbishop Symeon, and, in addition to many
others, a hundred clerics and bishops were martyred on a single day,
as well as countless masses of others. Of these martyrs 18,000 are
conspicuous for the terrifying tortures of an unnatural kind which
destroyed them at the hands of the utterly godless Sabores. It was
then that bishop Akepsimas, the presbyter Aeithalas, and Terboulia,
sister of archbishop Symeon, were martyred with a great many other
women. The most godlike emperor Constantine advised Sabores by
means of a letter to spare the Christians and begged him to cease
from this enormous cruelty.* This letter was brilliantly composed
and most godlike but it did not persuade him.I\*

Illn the same year the godlike Constantine sent the blessed Helena
to Jerusalem with money and soldiers to seek the life-giving Cross of
the Lord.* Makarios, patriarch of Jerusalem, having met the empress
with due honour, made the search for the longed-for life-giving wood
along with her, in tranquillity, with earnest prayers and fasting.
When these things had been done, the site was quickly revealed to
Makarios by God in the place where the temple and statue of the
impure demon Aphrodite stood. The divinely crowned Helena,

using her imperial authority, immediately arranged for a large

AM5810 Chronographia

number of workmen to destroy the temple, which had been lavishly
built long ago by Aelius Hadrian, raze it to its foundations, and
remove the [excavated] soil. Straight away the Holy Sepulchre and
the place of the Skull were revealed, and close by, to the east, there
were three buried crosses.‘ After searching, they even found the
nails. But they were all at aloss to know which cross was the Lord's.
The blessed Helena was particularly grieved, but the well-named
bishop Makarios solved the problem by his faith. For by bringing
each of the crosses to a distinguished lady who was in despair and
near death, he discovered which of them was the Lord's. For barely
had its shadow come close to the sick woman when she, though
hardly able to breathe or move, suddenly and immediately through
God's power leaped up and began glorifying God in a loud voice. The
all-pious Helena with fear and great joy took up the life-giving wood
and brought part of it withthe nails to her son, and having placed the
rest of it in a silver casket, she handed it over to bishop Makarios as
a memorial for later generations. Then she also ordered that
churches be built at the Holy Sepulchre and at Calvary in the name
of her son, where the life-giving wood was discovered, and also at
Bethlehem and on the Mount of Olives.* And so she returned to the

all-praiseworthy Constantine. He, having welcomed her with joy,
placed the particle of the life-giving wood ina golden chest, handing
it over to the bishop for safe keeping. Of the nails he forged some on
to his helmet, and inserted others in his horse's bridle, so that the
word of the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘on that day there will
be on the bridle of the horse holiness unto the Lord Almighty.'® The
same all-praiseworthy Constantine wrote to the well-named
Makarios to hurry with the building and sent out an officer of works
with an abundance of money with orders to build the Holy Places so
that there would be nothing so beautiful in the entire inhabited
world. He also wrote to the governors of the province to join in the
work earnestly from the public account.? The emperor in splendid
celebration gave thanks to God for having made such good things

happen in his time.|l°

In the same year the well-named Makarios, patriarch of Jerusalem,
died in peace® and Maximus succeeded to his throne, a gentle and
distinguished man who had endured many tortures for God during
the persecution and had lost his right eye.

l1l1During the same period the blessed Helena also died in the Lord
at the age of 80, having made many exhortations to her son con-
cerning the Christian religion.!I° She was buried in the church of the
Holy Apostles in Constantinople, which her son Constantine built

for the burial of deceased Christian emperors.I\*? The blessed Helena

Chionogzaphia AM 5815

was the first to be buried in it, and was honoured by magnificent
night-long memorial services. 11The sacred maidens in Jerusalem,
whom the god-minded Helena had entertained and served in person
at the table, like a serving maid, praised her forever with divine ser-
vices. II*

IIThe emperor ordered Eusebios Pamphilou to prepare copies of
the sacred books for use in the churches of Constantinople, for

which he supplied him with public money.IK’®

* Theod. Lect. 35-6 (17. 19-18. 27) partly reconstructed from Theophanes. Cf. Soz.

ii. 9-15, Theod. i. 25; Chi. 724, 102. 8. > Alex. Mon. 4061B-4064C.
<= Alex. Mon. 4064C. 4 Alex. Mon. 4068C. © Theod. Lect. 25 (13.
18-21), cf. Soz. ii. 2. f Cf. Leo Gramm. 88. 22-89. 1 (almost verbatim), Mich.
Syr. i. 257.

There had been Persian persecution of Christians c.270-90, but
Shapur's anti-Christian activity is post-Constantine, the first repressive
measures being in 339/40 and the first martyrdoms in 340/41. For an argu-
ment that the repression was provoked by Constantine's involvement with
the Persian Christians, see T. D. Barnes, /RS 75 (1985), 126-36.

* Theophanes' date for this letter (the text is in Euseb. VCiv. 9-13) may
be accurate (cf. Soz. ii. 9) but the circumstances are unclear.

3 Helena probably went to Jerusalem in 327. See E. D. Hunt, Holy Land
Pilgrimage in the Later Roman Empire AD 312-460 (Oxford, 1982), 35.

* The earliest reference to the discovery of the Cross is in Cyril of
Jerusalem, Catacheses, 4. 10, 10. 19; r3. 4- written about 347-50 and so
within 25 years of Helena's visit to Jerusalem, though the later Liber
Pontificalis dates the discovery to 310 also without mentioning Helena (Lib.
Pont. ed. Duchesne, i. 179). The earliest surviving claim that it was Helena
who discovered the Cross is in Ambrose's sermon On the death of
Theodosius, ed. Faller, CSEL 73, 45, delivered on 25 Feb. 395. On the devel-
opment of the legend, see Hunt, Pilgrimage, 37-49.

> Euseb. VC iii. 43 specifies that Helena built just two churches, at
Bethlehem, and on the Mount of Olives. VC iii. 25-8 gives credit to
Constantine both for the discovery of the Holy Sepulchre and for the church
(without reference either to Helena or the Cross). For the churches, C.
Couasnon, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (London, 1974),
14 ff.
° Zech. 14: 20.

” For Constantine's letter to Makarios, Euseb. VC iii. 30-2, and to the
governors, VC ii. 29.

® This is at odds with the rubric.

° Euseb. VC iii. 47 says that Helena was buried ‘in the imperial city’. Her
sarcophagus was placed in a mausoleum on the Via Labicana in Rome. See
Barnes, CE 221, F. W. Deichmann and A. Tschira, JDA1 72 (1957), 44 ff.

AM5810 Chronographia

AM 5818 [AD 325/6]

Year of the divine Incarnation 318

Constantine, emperor of the Romans (32 years), 22nd year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 24th year
Silvester, bishop of Rome (28 years), 26th year

Alexander, bishop of Constantinople (23 years), 7th year
Makarios, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 12th year
Alexander, bishop of Alexandria (23 years), 20th year
Eustathios, 23rd bishop of Antioch (18 years), 12th year

I lln this year the most pious and victorious Constantine campaigned
against the Germans, Sarmatians, and Goths, and wona mighty vic-
tory through the power of the Cross; and having devastated them he
reduced them to absolute servitude.1/"

llIn the same year he restored Drepana in honour of its martyr
Lucian and named it by his mother's name Helenopolis.1l1>*

In a letter to his fellow citizens which interpreted the sense of the
words, Eusebios Pamphilou testified to the total orthodoxy of the
creed of faith published at Nicaea by the fathers.* Athanasios for his
part, in a letter to the Africans, gave evidence that [Eusebios]
Pamphilou had accepted the term 'consubstantial’. Theodoret, how-
ever, says that Eusebios Pamphilou was in agreement with the
Arians,* such as Eusebios of Nicomedia and his associates,11 for
which reason he lent his support to the deposition of the divine
Eustathios of Antioch, and, having joined with them in persuading
the emperor that Eustathios was rightly deposed, he caused him to

be exiled to Illyricum.I°°

“ Cf. Mich. Syr. i. 259, Sokr. i. 18; [Hypoth. Arian] 4a. > Cf. Chron. Pasch.
527. 9-ri; Jerome, Chron. 23th (AD 327); Chron. 1234, p. 05 cf. p. rig, [Hypoth.
Arian] 4a; Chr. 724, 101. 9-12. © Theod. Lect. 47 (23. 32-3), cf. Theod. HE i.
21.

Constantine claimed victories over the Sarmatians in 323 and again in
334; over the Goths in 332 and over the Germans in 307, 308, c.314 and
328/9 (Barnes, NE 258, cf. 75-9). He also claimed a victory over the Dacians
in 336; Barnes, ibid. Our main narrative sources here are Euseb. VC iv. 5-6,
Exc. Val. 1. 31-2. Chron. Pasch. 527. 16-17 dates the bridge over the
Danube, the necessary prerequisite for these campaigns, to 328.
Theophanes' source here is presumably something like the so-called
Kaisergeschichte (cf. AM 5 815, n. 7).

* Chron. Pasch. and Jerome date this to 327. Barnes suggests 328. Lucian,
martyred in 312, was particularly revered by Helena. Theophanes' state-
ment, however, is important because it is reasonably accurate though inde-
pendent of our sources. Drepana, a village of Nicomedia in Bithynia, is the

Chronogiaphia AM582,6

modern Hersek. According to Prok. Aed. v. 2, Constantine merely gave it
the name of a city and it was Justinian who provided it with proper urban
amenities, including an aqueduct, baths, churches, and stoas. Cf. C. Mango,
TM 12 (1994), 146-50.

3 For Eusebios' letter, Opitz, Uikunde, 22, Sokr. i. 8. The reference to
Athanasios is probably an error for Eustathios of Antioch who did attack
Eusebios Pamphilou over his interpretation of the Nicene creed to which
Eusebios counter-attacked with a charge of Sabellianism. Since Athanasios
is always right in Theophanes, this is part of his own attack on Eusebios.

4 Theod. HE L 21 does say that Eusebios Pamphilou supported the Arians
but the rest of Theophanes' sentence bears little resemblance to Theod.

> Eusebios in fact presided over the Synod of Antioch in 327 which
deposed Eustathios. The decision was reviewed and endorsed by
Constantine, who examined Eustathios in person.

[AM 5819, AD 326/7]

Constantine, 23rd year
Sabores, 25th year
Silvester, 27th year
Alexander, 8th year
Makarios, 13th year
Alexander, 21st year

Eustathios, 13th year

IlIn this year there began the construction of the octagonal church in
Antioch.I\*!

* Cf. Jerome, Chron. 23ii (AD 327), Mich. Syr. i. 259; [Hypoth. Arian] 5.

" For a description of the church, Euseb. VC iii. 50 and Speech, ix. 15, ed.
Heikel, 22r.

[AM 5820, AD 327/8]

Constantine, 24th year
Sabores, 26th year
Silvester, 28th year
Alexander, goth year
Makarios, 14th year
Alexander, 22nd year

Eustathios, 14th year

Illn this year the pious Constantine, after crossing the Danube, built

a stone bridge over it and subdued the Scythians. 11"!

AM 5810 Chronographia

"Cf. Chron. Pasch. 527. 16-17; Mich. Syr. i. 2.59; (Hypoth. Arian] 6a.

* This is the bridge from Oescus to Sucidava. Constantine claimed a vic-
tory over the Dacians in 336: see Barnes, CE 221 n. r35.

[AM 5821, AD 328/9]

Constantine, 25th year

Sabores, 27th year

Mark, 32nd bishop of Rome (2 years), 1st year’
Alexander, 10th year

Makarios, 15th year

Alexander, 23rd year

Eustathios, 15th year

Illn this year the pious Constantine, while founding Constantinople,
decreed that it was to be styled 'New Rome’ and ordered it to have a
senate. He set up a porphyry column with a statue of himself on top
of it at the place where he began to build the city in the western part,
by the gate leading out towards Rome. He decorated the city and
brought to it works of art and statues of bronze and marble from

every province and city. 11°"

"Cf. Chron. Pasch. 529-30; [Hypoth. Arian] 7a.

"Mark was pope from r8 Jan. 336 to 7 Oct. 336. He ought, however, to be
33 on Theophanes' list.

* This refers to the dedication of Constantinople on rr May 330 over
which Theophanes is surprisingly vague. Properly the title New Rome was
only acquired in 381 through canon 3 of the Synod of Constantinople. See
Dagron, Naissance, 54 and 458. For earlier use of the term, see ibid. 43-7.
The statue on the porphyry column was allegedly a reworked Apollo from
Ilium. Other sources place it in the centre of the forum: see J.
Karayannopoulos, Historia, 5 (1966), 34r ff., Barnes, CE 222. For a list of the
art works, Euseb. VC iii. 48-9; Chron. Pasch. 528-30. For the porphyry col-
umn, cf. Chron. Pasch. 528; Mai. 320 C. Mango, JDAI 80 (1965), 306-13,
and DChAE 10 (1980/1), 103-10.

[AM 5822, AD 329/30]

Constantine, 26th year
Sabores, 28th year
Mark, 2nd year
Alexander, nth year
Makarios, 16th year

Chionogzaphia AM 5815

Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (46 years), 1st year
Eustathios, 16th year

lllIn this year the pious Constantine intensified the destruction of
idols and their temples and they were demolished in [various]
places. I\° The revenues from these were bestowed upon the churches
of God.1l*

“Cf. Jerome, Chron. 233b (AD 331), Euseb. VC iii. 48; [Hypoth. Arian] 8.
b Cf. AM5816x.

AM 5823 [AD 330/L]

Year of the divine Incarnation 323

Constantine, emperor of the Romans (32 years), 27th year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 29th year
Julius, bishop of Rome (15 years), istyear’

Alexander, bishop of Constantinople (23 years), 12th year
Makarios, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 17th year
Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (46 years), 2nd year
Eustathios, bishop of Antioch (18 years), 17th year

1iIn this year the basilica at Nicomedia was burned down by a divine

fire. 11-7

" [Hypoth. Arian] 9.

* Julius was pope from 6 Feb. 337 to 12 Apr. 352.
* Euseb. VC iii. 50 refers to Constantine building a fine church at
Nicomedia after embellishing Constantinople.

[AM 5824, AD 331/2]

Constantine, 28th year
Sabores, 30th year
Julius, 2nd year
Alexander, 13th year
Makarios, 18th year
Athanasios, 3rd year

Eustathios, 18th year

llIn this year, when the 7th indiction’ was about to follow, a famine
occurred in the Eastiu* which was so extremely severe that villagers
gathered together in great throngs in the territory of the Antiochenes

and of Kyros and assailed one another and stole [food] in attacks by

AM5810 Chronographia

night and, finally, even in daylight they would break into the gra-
naries, looting and stealing everything in the storehouses before
they went away. A modius of corn cost 400 pieces of silver.’
11Constantine the Great graciously gave an allowance of corn to the
churches in each city to provide continuous sustenance for widows,
the poor in hostels, and for clerics. The Church in Antioch received
36,000 modii of corn.11>

Illn the same year, during a very severe earthquake in Cyprus, the

city of Salamis collapsed and killed a considerable number. 11°

“Cf. Jerome, Chron. 233c (AD 333); Kedr. 519. 8-io, [Hypoth. Arian] ro.
> Cf. Mich. Syr. i. 259; [Hypoth. Arian] 10. © Mai. 313. 8-15. Cf. AM 5834, for
which this may be a doublet; Kedr. 519. io-r2, [Hypoth. Arian] 10.

" AM 5824 in fact coincides with indiction 5. Kedr. also dates this to year
28 of Constantine.

* As Dr. R. Burgess reports, at a price of 400 arguria per modius, an argu-
rion cannot be a solidus, a silver siliqua struck at 96 to the pound (and rare
in this period)—which would render a value 16.7 solidi to the modius
(assuming 24 siliquae to the solidus)—or a denarius, when normal prices at
the time ranged between 10 and 40 modii per solidus and a solidus was
worth about 1x5,02r denarii (see below). The only coin left is the small
bronze coin of the period, the so-called follis, but generally referred to at the
time as a nummus, struck at about 12 carats (c.2.48g.) with 1.1% silver and
the legend GLorIAEXERCITUS with two standards. If in 333 there were approx-
imately 100 denarii to the nummus and there were approximately 8,281,500
denarii to the pound of gold, the price of wheat during the famine in Antioch
was 40,000 denarii per modius or almost 3 modii per solidus.

3 Mai. not only dates the earthquake to the reign of Constantius Chlorus
but makes it the only event in the reign worthy of record, crediting
Constantius with both taxation-relief and the reconstruction of buildings,
in consequence of which the city was renamed Constantia. Commentators
are agreed in rejecting Mai. but it is possible that Theophanes, who does not
associate Constantius with events in the Eastern Empire at all, has deliber-
ately redated this by linking it with the chronicle tradition preserved in
Jerome, who records for this year that 'an innumerable multitude perished
in Syria and Cilicia from pestilence and hunger’.

[AM 5825, AD 332/3]

Constantine, 29th year
Sabores, 31st year
Julius, 3rd year
Alexander, 14th year
Makarios, 19th year

Chronogiaphia AM 582,6

Athanasios, 4th year
Eulalios, bishop of Antioch (3 years), 1st year

llIn this year Dalmatius was proclaimed Caesar.I1*! Kalokairos, the
usurper on the island of Cyprus, did not resist the Roman attack. II-
After being defeated, along with those responsible, he was executed
by the Caesar Dalmatius at Tarsus in Cilicia by being burned alive. 1~

IllIn the same year Arius was recalled from exile following a
feigned repentance and sent to Alexandria. 1° He was not accepted by

Athanasios. I1*

Cf. Jerome, Chzon. 2331 (AD 335); Chion. Pasch. 531. 17-18 (a.335); Anon. Val. 6.

35; [Hypoth. Arian] 1a. > Cf. Jerome, Chron. 233G (AD 334); [Hypoth. Arian]
na. © Cf. Aur. Vict. Caes, 41. 11-12; (Hypoth. Arian] na. 4 Theod.
Lect. 37 (18. 28]; cf. Soz. ii. 16. " Theod. Lect. 39 (19. 25-6); cf. Sokr. i. 27.

" Flavius Julius Dalmatius, son of Constantine's half-brother Flavius
Dalmatius, appointed Caesar 18 Sept. 335.

* Although Kalokairos’ revolt and defeat are recorded in several sources
(with no more information than in 'bJ, Theophanes alone mentions the
information in this sentence. The Dalmatius in question was, however, the
father Flavius Dalmatius, Censor c.333 (W. Ensslin, RhM 78 (1929),
199-212), not the young Caesar. Theophanes, not realizing that there were
two Dalmatii, has rearranged the order so as to have Dalmatius' appoint-
ment precede his victory. Cf. AM 5827, n. 7.

3 Arius (with Euzoios) was reinstated by the Synod of Nicomedia in 327
with Constantine's support. Alexander of Alexandria refused to readmit
Arius to communion but he died on r7 Apr. 328 and was succeeded by
Athanasios on 8 June 328, who continued Alexander's opposition to Arius.

[AM 5826, AD 333/4]

Constantine, 30th year
Sabores, 32nd year
Julius, 4th year
Alexander, 15th year
Makarios, zoth year
Athanasios, 5th year

Eulalios, and year

lllIn this year the tricennalia of the most pious and victorious
Constantine was celebrated with great munificence. I 1*!

llIn Antioch a star appeared in the eastern part of the sky during
the day, emitting much smoke as though from a furnace, from the
third to the fifth hour. 1%

IlArius along with Eusebios of Nicomedia and those of like mind

AM 5810 Chronographia

were stirred up and offered sworn statements of their orthodoxy to
the emperor, who was thirsting for unity among the divided. They
persuaded him falsely that they were in agreement with the fathers
of Nicaea. Convinced by them, the emperor was annoyed with
Athanasios for not accepting back Arius and Euzoios who had been
deposed by Alexander,! I© Euzoios being then a deacon. Eusebios and
his supporters, having found a pretext, campaigned against

Athanasios as a champion of the true faith.’

"Cf. Chron. Pasch. 531. 14-15; [Hypoth. Arian] 12a. > [Hypoth. Arian] 12a.
© Theod. Lect. 39 (19. 22-8); cf. Sokr. i. 25-7, Ps.-Pollux, 296. 13-20.

" For descriptions, Euseb. VC iv. 46-80; cf. iv. 7 and Speech.

* No comet is recorded elsewhere for 334, but this is the hui [broom star)
recorded in the Chinese sources for 16 Feb. 336. See Ho Peng Yoke, Vistas
in Astronomy, 5 (1962), 159.

3 This is partly confused with the account of AM 5825.

AM 5827 [AD 334/5]

Year of the divine Incarnation 327

Constantine, emperor of the Romans (32 years), 31st year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 33rd year
Julius, bishop of Rome (15 years), 5th year

Alexander, bishop of Constantinople (23 years), 16th year
Maximus, bishop of Jerusalem (6 years), 1st year
Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (46 years), 6th year
Eulalios, bishop of Antioch (3 years), 3rd year

llIn this year' the emperor's annoyance with Athanasios for not
accepting back Arius and Euzoios after their feigned turnabout
provided an opportunity for evil to the supporters of Eusebios of
Nicomedia together with the Melitians,* and they began plotting
against Athanasios. First, they found fault with his ordination, even
though Apolinarios the Syrian gave strong evidence in favour of the
said ordination of Athanasios. Second, there was the linen clothing
which his enemies alleged that the holy man used to wear. Third, they
alleged falsely that he had sent a great quantity of gold to
Philoumenos to arrange a plot against the emperor.* The emperor,
having summoned Athanasios and found that these were all lies, sent
him back to Alexandria with [official] letters and much honour.“
IlIn the same year Ischyras concocted a plot against Athanasios in
Mareotis. This man Ischyras, having disguised himself as a priest,’

travelled about celebrating mass. When Athanasios learned of this,

Chionogia phia AM 5827

he forbade this outrageous behaviour through the _ presbyter
Makarios. Ischyras then fled to Eusebios of Nicomedia and accused
Athanasios of having thrown the sacred vessels off the altar at the
time of the divine service and of having burned the sacred books
through the agency of Makarios. They also lied about the much-
vaunted hand of Arsenios,°® claiming that he had used it for magic,
and so shamelessly slandered the holy man. When the emperor had
heard of these accusations against Athanasios he first entrusted the
inquiry to his nephew Dalmatius’ who was in Antioch. He later
transferred the trial to Caesarea, but since Athanasios put it off
because of Eusebios Pamphilou,® he was tried at Tyrell’® by those
opponents of truth, particularly Eusebios of Nicomedia, who had
tricked the emperor with his supposed longing [to see] the holy sites
that had been built up and to be present at their consecration. The
emperor sent Eusebios on his way with great honour, I 1° ordering that
the slanders against Athanasios be dismissed, and thereafter that he
together with Athanasios should be present at the feast for the con-
secration.’® And so when they had gathered in Tyre,’’ Maximus of
Jerusalem’* was also present unaware of the plot against Athanasios.
Athanasios entered the assembly of these malignant men and scat-
tered the calumnies of his accusers like cobwebs, so that they, hav-
ing been seen to be lying in these matters, confused everything in
their rage and began shouting ‘Remove the man who has silenced
everyone by magic!’ The Caesar Dalmatius, the emperor's
nephew,'* and his band of soldiers were scarcely able to save
Athanasios from impending death at their hands.II* It was then that
Arsenios arrived in Tyre by God's providence and, when the fiction
about him had been exposed, the enemies had recourse to the
calumny of Ischyras. Because of these unendurable plots against him
Athanasios left Tyre. The Arian-thinkers, having initiated an action
with only one party represented, now deposed Athanasios in his
absence and, having taken communion with Arius and Euzoios, sent
them to Alexandria. And so they went up to the consecration with
their hands bloodied. The instigator of all these crimes was Eusebios

of Nicomedia.il®

11There is a true story that the great Athanasios, after fleeing from
Tyre, went up to Jerusalem and, having offered his prayers and
anointed and sanctified the churches with holy oil before the arrival
of those impious men, presented himself to the emperor and
explained all the circumstances concerning himself.’* The _ all-
blessed Constantine, amazed at the evil of his adversaries, treated
him with great honour and sent him with [official] letters to

Alexandria.! I"%

AM 5827 Chronographia

uAfter their return from the consecration, that stranger to all piety,
Eusebios of Nicomedia, and also Theognis, Ursacius, and
Patrophilos, on reaching Byzantium, were silent about the initial
slanders against Athanasios and produced four men with the rank of
bishop as false witnesses. These men dared to affirm on oath that
they had heard Athanasios threatening to prevent the corn supply
from Egypt coming to Byzantium. As a result they moved the Christ-
loving emperor to anger and drove him to banish the great Athanasios
to Treviri in Gaul. With Athanasios banished, Arius once again began
troubling Egypt. On being informed of this the emperor summoned
him and asked whether he was in agreement with the teachings of
Nicaea on the consubstantial. He swore on oath, though he was
effecting a trick even then as he always did. For he had composed two
sheets, one supporting the consubstantial, the other against it. The
latter was written in his own hand, the first by someone else. Having,
therefore, sworn that he held the faith, he persuaded the emperor to
order that he be received into the catholic Church. When he heard of
this, the divine Alexander lamented before God in the church called
Eirene. But swifter than a word, divine justice overtook Arius, cut-
ting him off from this life and the life to come in a place suited to the
filth that flowed from his tongue,iafter he had gushed out his
bowels in the latrines at the very hour when he was about to go up
unworthily into the sacred precincts.

These events took place in the 31st year of Constantine the Great
while the divine Alexander was bishop of Constantinople, and it was
not, as Eusebios alone states, while Eusebios of Nicomedia was hold-
ing the throne of Constantinople that he plotted against Athanasios
at the consecration. That this is false is shown from the total period
of time, since Constantine ruled in all for 32 years. After his first
decade, in his 13th year he arrived in Byzantium and found
Alexander's predecessor Metrophanes was bishop, after whom
Alexander was bishop for 23 years. The period from the beginning of
Constantine the Great's rule to the death of Alexander was conse-
quently 37 years, which Constantine did not attain. Thus from the
total period of time it can be shown that Eusebios did not rule the
throne of Constantinople in Constantine's time.'® This also follows
from what has been said above about Arius and Athanasios. For
Athanasios’ banishment and _ Arius’ death occurred after
Constantine's 30th year and after the consecration at Jerusalem. The

great Alexander was still alive at that time.

Theod. Lect. 40-1 (19. 29-20. 17); cf. Sokr. i. 27, Soz. ii. 17. > Theod. Lect.
42-4 (20. 18-21. 34); cf. Soz. ii. 2r, 23, Theod. HE i. 20, 28, Sokr. i. 27. SCR

52-

Chronogiaphia AM582,6

Theod. Lect. 44 (21. 35-6], 46 (22. 29-31), and 47 (23. 25-7); cf. Sokr. i. 28, 33, Theod.
HE i. 21, 28, Soz. ii. 26. 4 Alex. Mon. 4065B-C. ° Theod. Lect. 45-6 (22.
19-31); cf. Sokr. i. 29-33, Soz. ii. 26-7. " Alex. Mon. 4065C-D. 2 Theod.
Lect. 49-50 (24. 30-26. 28); cf. Sokr. i. 34-7, Theod. HE i. 31.

" For a clear account of the events related in this year, Barnes, CE, ch. r3;
also id. Athanasius, ch. 3.

* The Anan-Melitian alliance was formed in 330 or early 331.

3 For the charges, see Barnes, CE 232 and 386 n. 69 with the references.
The 'wearing of linen' appears to be a substitution by Theod. Lect. for a 'tax
on linen’ (in Sokr.), though Theod. Lect.'s Greek is not absolutely clear.

* Athanasios was summoned to Nicomedia in 331 and reached
Alexandria on his return in mid-Lent 332. In between this sentence and the
next should be placed Arius' outburst over Constantine's failure to restore
him and Constantine's retaliatory letter, describing Arians as Porphyrians
and ordering the burning of Arius' works. Cf. AM 58r6.

> Ischyras had been ordained by Colluthus, a schismatic priest whose
ordinations had been declared invalid at the Synod of Alexandria, presided
over by Ossios early in 325.

® Bishop of Hypsele in upper Egypt, a Melitian. Athanasios’ opponents
produced a hand as evidence of Athanasios’ having murdered Arsenios, who
had been secreted in a monastery in the Thebaid.

7 Actually the father of this Dalmatius, i.e. Constantine's half-brother
(Sokr. i. 27). Cf. AM 5825, n. 2.

8 Theod. Lect. has 'Palestinian Eusebios', both versions being rather
stronger than those of Sokr., Soz. or Theod.

° From ‘a’ to this point Theophanes is embroidering on the material in
his sources.

© Constantine dissolved the synod and sent Athanasios a letter, accept-
ing his innocence. This sentence should refer to Caesarea, not Tyre, a case
of Theophanes' clumsy switch of sources. The matter, however, was dealt
with by an exchange of letters. Neither Athanasios nor Constantine was at
Caesarea, nor did Constantine attend the consecration of Jerusalem.

" Theophanes by inserting a section ('c’) from Alex. Mon., confuses two
synods at Tyre. Athanasios did not attend the first one, which was dissolved.
The trial at Tyre was in response to further charges being laid by Athanasios’
opponents. It was conducted by Flavius Dionysius, ex-governor of Syria,
supported by a military detachment. It is unlikely that Athanasios’ disap-
proval of Eusebios of Caesarea had anything to do with the location.

* Alex. Mon. does not miss a chance to refer to Jerusalem. That this is
also retained by Theophanes may reflect a similar interest. Maximus
became bishop in 333.

8 Not Dalmatius but comes Flavius Dionysios, former governor of Syria.

“4 In fact Athanasios fled to Constantinople to seek an audience with the
emperor. Alex. Mon.'s version attempts to make the consecration orthodox
rather than Arian.

*® In fact Constantine granted Athanasios an audience (6 Nov. 335) and

AM 5810 Chronographia

summoned the bishops from Tyre, a select few of whom happened to reach
Constantinople a few hours later. See Barnes, CE 239-40.

© Theophanes' determination to demonstrate that the Arian Eusebios of
Nicomedia could not have been bishop of Constantinople in Constantine's
lifetime is presumably linked to iconodule arguments in Theophanes' life-
time for the orthodoxy of Constantine. Cf. AM 5 814, n. 3, 5 847, for other rare
examples of Theophanes resorting to argument with a similar objective.

[AM 5828, AD 335/6]

Constantine, 32nd year

Sabores, 34th year

Julius, 6th year

Alexander, 17th year

Maximus, 2nd year

Athanasios, 7th year

Euphronios, 25th bishop of Antioch (8 years), 1st year

Illn this year there flourished Eustathios, a presbyter in Constantin-
ople, who had devoted himself to an apostolic life and had reached
the summit of virtue; as also the builder Zenobios, who erected the
Martyrium in Jerusalem at Constantine's instruction.!\*!

Illn the same year many of the Assyrians in Persia were being sold
in Mesopotamia by the Saracens,11* and the Persians declared war
on the Romans. The pious Constantine went out to the city of
Nicomedia on his way to fight the Persians, but became ill and died
in peace.* Some Arians claim that he was then deemed worthy of
holy baptism at the hands of Eusebios of Nicomedia, who had been
transferred to Constantinople.I1‘* This is false, as has been pointed
out; for he was baptized by Silvester in Rome, as we have already
demonstrated. 11He lived in all 65 years and was emperor for 31 years
and 10 months.* He wrote a will in which he left the Empire to his
three sons, Constantine, Constans, and Constantius, I 1*° having car-
ried out his office with piety and mercy. Becoming by God's provi-
dence the first emperor of the Christians, he gained power over
many barbarians from Britain to Persia and over usurpers of his own
race, destroying his enemies by the sign of the life-giving Cross. 11He
entrusted his will to a certain Arian presbyter who had been intro-
duced with evil intent by his sister Constantia, enjoining on him to
hand it to none otherthan Constantius, the emperor of the East. He
also ordered Athanasios to return from exile. 11°”

IIConstantius, after arriving from the East, buried his fatherin [the
church of] the Apostles. The unholy Arian presbyter, after handing

over the will to Constantius, enjoyed great influence in the palace

Chionogzaphia AM 5815

and even persuaded the empress herself to become an Arian. His
accomplices in this were the chief eunuch Eusebios, u* Eusebios of

Nicomedia, and other Arians of their persuasion.

" Cf. Jerome, Chron. 23311 (AD 336); [Hypoth. Arian) 13a. > Cf. Chron. 724,
101. 30-1 (p. 130); [Hypoth. Arian] 13a. ° Cf. Chron. Pasch. 532. 7-13; Sokr. i.
39; [Hypoth. Arian] 13a. 4 Theod. Lect. 51 (26. 29-27. 16); cf. Sokr. i. 38-40,
Chron. Pasch. 532. 13-19. © Theod. Lect. 51 (27. 17-20); cf. Sokr. i. 39, Theod.
HE i. 31, Mich. Syr. i. 260. Theod. Lect. 52 (27. 22-28. 21); cf. Sokr. i. 40, ii.
2, Soz. iii. 1, Chron. Pasch. 533. 5-17.

" Theophanes credits only Zenobios with the martyrium. Jerome credits
only Eustathios and does not even mention Zenobios. On the church, cf.
Mango, Art, 14.

* Apart from Theophanes, our sole source for this is the Syriac Chr. 724,
which puts it early in Constantius’ reign. For an analysis of Theophanes' use
of Syriac and Greek material for the remainder of this and the following
year, see Introduction: Sources, IV. 4.

3 22 May 337. That Constantine's death did occur when he was setting
out to campaign against the Persians and that this campaign was in reaction
to Persian provocation of some sort is implied by other 4th-cent. accounts.
On the implications of this for 4th-cent. and later interpretations of
Constantine, both pagan and Christian, and its links to the varied versions
of Constantine's baptism, see G. Fowden, JRS 84 (1994), 146-70.

* Cf. AM 5814. Theophanes invents the false claim regarding Eusebios of
Nicomedia's translation, which was two years later and had nothing to do
with his actual baptism of Constantine in Nicomedia.

> In fact 30 years and 10 months.

° The promotion of Dalmatius to Caesar in late 335 argues against this.
Cf. Chron. Pasch. 532. 19-21.

7 Cf. AM 5829b. Constantine's son Constantine (rather than Constantius),
on his father's death, recalled all exiled bishops. In particular he sent
Athanasios to Alexandria with a letter of commendation. Cf. Barnes, CE
263.

® This is Eusebios 11, PLRE i. 302-3.

AM 5829 [AD 336/7Y

Year of the divine Incarnation 329

Constantius, emperor of the Romans (24 years), 1st year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 35th year
Julius, bishop of Rome (15 years), 7th year

Alexander, bishop of Constantinople (23 years), 18th year
Maximus, bishop of Jerusalem (6 years), 3rd year
Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (46 years), 8th year
Euphronios, bishop of Antioch (8 years), 2nd year

AM 5810 Chronographia

I lIn this year, following the death of the great and holy Constantine,
his three sons became rulers of the Romans: Constantius of the East,
Constans of the Gauls, and Constantine of Italy.11°* Constantius
recalled Athanasios from banishment and sent him to Alexandria
with a letter of commendation. The Alexandrians received him with
great joy, especially the clergy. 1°

11Eusebios Pamphilou’‘ in his first book against Marcellus and also
in his third, vehemently attacks those who dared call the son of God
a creature. Sokrates defends Eusebios by citing quotations [from his
work] in an attempt to show that he was not an Arian sympathizer.
The truth shows him as being without a fixed view and varying his
position according to different circumstances.II° Eusebios died soon
after Constantine the Great,° leaving his pupil Akakios as successor
to his throne at Caesarea. Akakios was a distinguished man, and the
author of the Medley, but was closely associated with the Arians and
clearly of one mind with his teacher. 11°°

Illn the same year, Sabores, the Persian emperor, invaded
Mesopotamia, planning to destroy Nisibis, and besieged it for 63
days.’ But lacking the strength to capture it, he then withdrew.I\*
Jacob, bishop of Nisibis, remaining true to the proper worship of
God, by his prayers easily achieved his purpose. For when it seemed
likely that the Persians would destroy Nisibis, it was he who

‘8 For they immediately

cheated them of their expectation.u
retreated from the city pursued by the breath of his prayer, and arriv-
ing in their own country they suffered in turn from hunger and
plague as the wages of the sin they had committed. 11°

Ii1The Caesar Dalmatius was killed by the troops immediately
after the death of Constantine the Great. Constantius did not order

his murder nor yet did he prevent it.I)

"Cf. Chron. Pasch. 532. 13-18; [Hypoth. Arian] 13a. > Theod. Lect. 53 (28.
22-5]; cf. Soz. iii. 2, Theod. HEii. 2. ° Cf. Sokr. ii. 21. 4 Theod. Lect. 55
(28. 30-2); cf. Soz. iii. 2. * Cf. Chron. Pasch. 533. 18-20,* Chron. 724, ror. 32-3;
[Hypoth. Arian] i3f. f Chron. 724, ror. 33-4; cf. Jerome, Chron. 234f [AD 338);
[Hypoth. Arian] i3f. « Chron. 724, 101. 34-6 (p. 130); cf. AM 5841, Mich. Syr. i.
266, [Hypoth. Arian] I3f. Eutrop. Brev. x. 9. 1.

For a discussion of Theophanes' apparent use of Syriac sources for this
year, see Introduction: Sources, IV. 14..

* The three sons declared themselves Augusti on 9 Sept. 337 [Cons.
Const, a.337, Euseb. VC iv. 6).

3 Athanasios reached Alexandria on 23 Nov. 337, Barnes, AJAH 3 (1978),
65- id., Athanasius, 36 and25o n. 12. Cf. AM 5828, n. 7.

* Theophanes transfers to AM 5830 an item ( = Theod. Lect. 54) on the
Arians persuading a stupid Constantius to eject the homoousion and banish
Athanasios.

Chronogiaphia AM582,6

> Eusebios died on 30 May of either 338 or, more probably, 339.

° Akakios was bishop of Caesarea to 366, when he was succeeded by
Euzoios. Akakios and Euzoios both tried to preserve Pamphilos' library and
probably both revised some of Eusebios' works. Akakios was a bitter oppo-
nent of Cyril of Jerusalem, who, on Akakios' death, tried to establish his
own nephew Gelasios at Caesarea, where he eventually replaced Euzoios.

7 In 338. The invasion aimed at restoring Persian control of Armenia,
now a Christian kingdom where Constantine had attempted to install his
nephew Hannibalianus as king in the winter of 336/7. Nisibis was quickly
relieved since Shapur was called away to defend his kingdom against an
invasion of Chionites, on which cf. Christensen, Iran, 236.

8 The story of Jacob at Nisibis is available briefly in Jerome and thence
Gregory of Tours. The miraculous section first appears in Syriac in Saint
Ephraem (but not in Chr. Edess. of c.540 though that gives a date of 337/8 or
340 for his death). The Liber Chalipharum ( = Brooks, Chr. J24) has one sen-
tence the same as Jerome, the second the same as Theophanes. Brooks has
argued strongly that Theophanes on the one hand and Ps.-Dionysios of Tel-
Mahre and Michael the Syrian on the other, are derived from a common
source, almost certainly a Melkite from Palestine who wrote in Greek.
Theophanes, writing almost a century after Chr. 724, is very close to it but
would not, according to Peeters, have used a Syriac source. Theophanes'
‘final’ story was not known to Chron. Pasch. but it is indeed possible that
George Synkellos picked up the account in Jerusalem. There is no need to
posit an unknown 'Greek' source, though [Hypoth. Arian] is certainly a pos-
sibility. (Theod. HR has a confused doublet.) Otherwise Jacob's effort was
not known in Greek till Theophanes. For discussion see P. Peeters, Bull.
Acad. Royale de Belgique, Classe des Lettres, 17 (1931), 10-47. Cf. N.
Baynes, EHR 25 (1910), 625-43. Jacob probably died before the siege ended.
For a discussion of the sources, P. Peeters, AnBoll 38 (1920), 285-373, “P-
285-9. Theophanes' source here may well go back to the Syriac text. See
Introduction: Sources, IV. 14.

° Other relatives of Constantine eliminated at much the same time by
the army included Dalmatius' father and Julius Constantius (Constantine's
half-brother), Hannibalianus (the recent king of Armenia), as well as other
dignitaries.

[AM 5830, AD 337/8]

Constantius, 2nd year
Sabores, 36th year
Julius, 8th year
Alexander, 19th year
Maximus, 4th year
Athanasios, gth year

Euphronios, 3rd year

AM 5810 Chronographia

I lIn the same year when young Dalmatius had been murdered by the
troops, the same fate was about to befall Gallus and Julian, the sons
of Constantius, the brother of Constantine the Great. Ill-health
saved Gallus, his infancy Julian, for he was 8 years old."

u Constantius, who had at first accepted the consubstantial, later
changed his view, being of frivolous mind apd deceived by the Arian
presbyter and by Eusebios, the chief of the eunuchs, and by Eusebios
of Nicomedia and their followers.11™

" Theod. Lect. 119 (56. 5-7); cf. Sokr. iii. 1. > Theod. Lect. 54 (28. 26-8); cf.
77 (38. 22-5), Theod. HE ii. 3, Soz. iii. 18.

* Julian was born in 331 (Bidez, Bowersock) or 332 (PLRE i. 477,
Browning); see Bowersock, /ulian the Apostate (London and Cambridge,
Mass., 1978), 22 n. 1.

* Theod. Lect.'s source, Theod., associates the change with Athanasios’
expulsion. The presbyter was the conveyor of Constantine's will. Theoph.
substitutes Eusebios the eunuch for various less known names in Theod.
Lect. For Constantius’ weakness of character and subjection to pressure, cf.
Amm. Marc. xxi. 16. 16.

AM 5831 [AD 338/9]

Year of the divine Incarnation 331

Constantius, emperor of the Romans (24 years), 3rd year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 37th year
Julius, bishop of Rome (15 years), 9th year

Alexander, bishop of Constantinople (23 years), 20th year
Maximus, bishop of Jerusalem (6 years), 5 th year
Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (46 years), 10th year
Euphronios, bishop of Antioch (8 years), 4th year

Illn this year Constantine, the son of Constantine the Great, after
invading the territories of his brother Constans and meeting him in
battle, was killed by the troops.II" Constans was now sole ruler of
the western lands.u° Constantius, ruler of the East, sent Gallus and
Julian’ to be brought up at a place called Demakelle? near Caesarea
in Cappadocia. The two brothers became lectors and were eager to
build a church to the holy martyr Mamas. But the earth would not
support the part which Julian happened to be building. 1° So he cut
off his hair and pretended [to undertake] monastic training.

u Constantius and Constans made a law that a Jew could not buy
a slave, and that any such was to be confiscated by the public trea-
sury. And if [a Jew] should dare to circumcise a slave, he was to be
punished by the sword and have his property confiscated. n“

Chronogiaphia AM582,6

* Cf. Theod. Lect. 56 (29. 19-201; cf. Soz. iii. 2, Eutrop. Biev. x. 9.2, Jerome, Chion.
235a (AD 340), Chion. Pasch. 518. 2-3, [Hypoth. Arian] 14. > [Hypoth. Arian]
14. © Theod. Lect. 120 (56. 8-12); cf. Soz. v. 2. 4 Theod. Lect. 76 (38.
18-21]; cf. Soz. iii. 17.

* At Aquileia in 340.
2 In 342 (Baynes, JRS 45 [1925), followed by Bidez, Norman, Bowersock)

as_against Browning).
5 aginst 344 (Prd regi um,

4 CTh xvi. 9. 2 (13 Aug. 339)-

[AM 5832, AD 339/40]

Constantius, 4th year
Sabores, 38thyear
Julius, 10th year
Alexander, 21st year
Maximus, 6thyear
Athanasios, nth year
Euphronios, 5th year

IlIn this year Constantius built Amida and fortified it strongly. He
also founded Constantia, naming it after himself. It was previously
known as Antonioupolis and is 700 stades south of Amida.1I*!

"Chi. 724, 102. 17-20. Cf. Chi. Edess. years 660, 661, Jac. Edess. a.660, Chi.
Maion. 53. 22, Chi. 846, 150, Mich. Syr. i. 267, [Hypoth. Arian] is.

* The wealth of Syriac parallel passages here and the absence of Greek or
Latin sources is remarkable. Amida is the modern Diyarbakir while
Constantia-Tella-Antonioupolis-Antipolis is Viran§ehir. According to
Amm Marc, xviii. 9. 1, it was while Constantius was still a Caesar that he
fortified Amida and built {struxit) Antonioupolis, wanting the latter to be
named after him (its earlier name had perhaps been in honour of Caracalla).
Theophanes appears to have confused the distance from Constantia to
Amida with that on to Nisibis, giving 700 stades (131 km.) for the former
and, at AM 5996, 56 stades for the total, which de Boor rightly emended to
506 stades (reading ¢#¢£ for or 94. 6 km. The actual distances are
Viran§ehir-Diyarbakir, 90 km. and Viran§ehir-Nisibis, 133 km. See
Dillemann, Mesopotamie, 172.

[AM 5833, AD 340/1]

Constantius, 5th year
Sabores, 39th year
Julius, 11th year

AM 5810 Chronographia

Alexander, 22 nd year
Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (15 years), 1st year
Athanasios, 12th year
Euphronios, 6th year

Illn this year at a synod held in Antioch,’ [attended by] one hundred
and ninety bishops under the presidency of Eusebios of Nicomedia,
Eusebios of Emesa was elected bishop of Alexandria. When he was
not accepted, although he was a Sabellian,|l* they dispatched the
Arian Gregory with a large force and a certain general Syrianos to
expel Athanasios from the throne of Alexandria or to kill him.”
Thereupon Athanasios, after wisely taking advice from God, went
out of the church together with the choristers and escaped his
threatened death. \? Since Eusebios was not accepted by the
Alexandrians’ they themselves altered the creed, openly accepting
Arius, even after his death.* They published a second statement of
faith but remained silent about the consubstantial. I Then they held
the consecration of the church of Antioch which Constantine the
Great had built. 1°

uIn the same year Antioch was shaken by severe earthquakes for
three days. The church that was consecrated was in the shape of a
sphere and had taken six years to build. Constantine the Great had laid
its foundations, while Constantius completed and consecrated it.

" Theod. Lect. 58-9 (2,9. 28-30. 28); cf. Sokr. ii. 9. > Theod. Lect. 61 (31.
23-5); cf. Sokr. ii. 11. © Theod. Lect. 59 (30. 28-32), Sokr. ii. 10. ¢ Theod.
Lect. 58 (29. 278); cf. Soz. iii. 5; cf. Chr. 724, 101. 12. © Cf. Chr. 724, 102. 2-8;

Mich. Syr. i. 270); Jerome, Chron. 234c, g (AD 341, 342); Soz. iii. 6; Sokr. ii. 10; [Hypoth.
Arian] 16.

Held in Jan. 341, attended by 90 bishops (97 in two MSS of Theod. Lect.
based on Soz.) and also Constantius, it examined four creeds aimed at replac-
ing the Nicene creed.

* Theoph. has confused the 341 synod with one of the winter of 337/8.
Athanasios hid in Alexandria to avoid arrest on 17 Mar. 339. George arrived
on 22 Mar. and Athanasios fled in Apr. 339. See Barnes Athanasius, 46 (cf.
Barnes, AJAH 3 (1978), 65-6, with slightly different dates). The incident told
here had nothing to do with Gregory. In fact Syrianos entered Alexandria on
6 Jan. 356 to drive out Athanasios. See PLRE i. 872.

3 De Boor argues for a lacuna which he fills from Sokr. ii. 9 as 'those in
Antioch sent him back to Emesa and’. This is unnecessary as Theoph. is fol-
lowing Theod. Lect., whose next clause is 'the Arians elected Gregory as
bishop of Alexandria’, information which Theophanes has already implied
two sentences previously.

* Theophanes has substituted ‘after his death' for Theod. Lect.'s extrava-
gant and colourful ‘casting a protective shield over his memory’.

Chronographia AM 5817

> The source is not clear. The Syriac passages are much closer to Theoph.
than the ‘western’ passages. But since Sokr. and Soz. mention both the
earthquake and the consecration, it is likely that the source is Theod. Lect.
If so, Theophanes' handling is unusually clumsy with a double reference to
the consecration. It is at least possible that Theophanes' two references to
the consecration are a result of changing from Theod. Lect. to a Syriac
source. Theophanes’ handling of this whole year is complex and involves
rearrangement of material to suit his own purposes.

AM 5834 [AD 341/2.]

Year of the divine Incarnation 334

Constantius, emperor of the Romans (24 years), 6th year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 40th year
Julius, bishop of Rome (15 years), 12th year

Alexander, bishop of Constantinople (23 years), 23rd year
Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (15 years), 2nd year
Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (46 years), 13th year
Euphronios, bishop of Antioch (8 years), 7th year

IlIn this year Constantius celebrated a triumph for his victory over
the Assyrians.I1*) The Persian emperor Sabores persecuted the
Christians subject to him in addition to his other crimes. I\
Constans destroyed the Franks in the West.lI® During a severe
earthquake in Cyprus, the greater part of the city of Salamis fell. 1°

» Source unknown, but cf. n. 1. 56 Cf. Jerome, Chron. 236b |AD 344); Chr.
724, 102. 9; [Hypoth. ArianJ 17. © Cf. Jerome, Chron. 235c (AD 342); [Hypoth.
Arian] 17. 4 Source unknown but cf. AM 5 833 Or 5835 or perhaps a doublet for

5824. Cf. Mich. Syr. i. 271), citing John of Asia (i.e. of Ephesos|, [Hypoth. Arian] 17.

i.e. for victory over the Persians near Singara in mid-343. Cf. Festus,
Brev. 2. McCormick, Eternal Victory, 39, argues that the celebration was
genuine and was held at Antioch.

* For Constans' victory, Sokr. ii. 13, Kedr. 522. rr, Lib. Or. 59. 131, Cons.
Const, a.342.

[AM 5835, AD 342/3]

Constantius, 7thyear

Sabores, 41st year

Julius, 13thyear

Paul the Confessor, bishop of Constantinople (3 years), 1st year
Cyril, 3rd year

AM 5810 Chronographia

Athanasios, 14th year
Euphronios, 8thyear

IlIn this year, during a severe earthquake, Neocaesarea in Pontos was
destroyed except the church, the bishop's palace, and the pious men
who were there.I \* The Romans made war on the Persians and killed
many of them.] 1“

IlIn the same year Paul the Confessor was ordained bishop of
Constantinople. u*

" Cf. Jerome, Chron. 236c @D 344); Chr. 724, 102. 10-11,* John of Ephesos, cited by
Mich. Syr. i. 271, [Hypoth. Arian] 18. > Cf Jerome, Chron. 236. 1 (AD 348] orh
(AD 346); [Hypoth. Arian] 18. © Cf. Theod. Lect. 57 (29. 21-3), cf. Sokr. ii. 6

uiisnot clear t o what this refers. Cf. Eadie, Festus, 15 0 and sources cited
in Helm's edition of Eusebios.

* This should refer to Paul's first tenure of 337-9. His second term was
from late 341 to early 342 (Grumel, 434-5), following Eusebios of
Nicomedia's period in office. Cf. AM 5837.

[AM 5836, AD 343/4]

Constantius, 8th year

Sabores 42nd year

Julius, 14th year

Paul, 2nd year

Cyril, 4th year

Athanasios, 15 th year

Phlakitos, 26th bishop of Antioch (12 years), 1st year

IIIn this year the island of Rhodes collapsed during a severe earth-
quake. I\* The Alexandrians killed Gregory,’ who had attacked
Athanasios like a bandit and seized the throne of Alexandria for six
years.II" The Arian George was ordained by the Arians, a
Cappadocian monster. 1°

" [Hypoth. Arian] 19. > Theod. Lect. 61 (31. 25-7); cf. Theod. HE ii. 4.
© Theod. Lect. 63 (32. 26-7); cf. Sokr. ii. 14.

" Gregory's death is dated variously to 344, 345, 348. Paul was unable to
take control in Alexandria till much later, if at all. Grumel, 443, dates his
tenure from 24 Feb. 357.

Chronographia AM 5838

[AM 5837, AD 344/5]

Constantius, gth year
Sabores, 43rd year
Julius, 15th year
Paul, 3rd year

Cyril, 5th year
Athanasios, 16th year
Phlakitos, 2nd year

llIn this year Dyrrachium in Dalmatia was destroyed by an earth-
quake and Rome suffered tremors for three days. Twelve cities in
Campania were destroyed. 1*! Constantius, on reaching Byzantium?
expelled Paul the bishop of Constantinople from his throne and
installed in his place, illegally and like a robber, the most impious

Eusebios of Nicomedia, the receptacle of iniquity. 1°

"Cf. Jerome, Chron. 2368 |AD 346); Kedr. 522. 10° Mich. Syr. i. 271 citing John of
Ephesos; [Hypoth. Arian] 20. > Theod. Lect. 57 (29. 24-6); cf. Sokr. ii. 6.

* Mich. Syr. confirms the earthquake at Rome and Campania being in
Constantine's ninth year, but omits Dyrrachion.

* i.e. after conferring with his brothers in Pannonia in Sept. 337. This
assumes Paul's tenure was at most a few months and not 3 years as given in
various sources. Cf. Grumel, 434.

3 Theod. Lect. simply says ‘installed Eusebios of Nicomedia’. The epi-
thets are thus likely to be Theophanes' additions. Probably late in 339
(Grumel, 434).

[AM 5838, AD 345/6]

Constantius, 1oth year

Sabores, 44th year

Liberius, bishop of Rome (6 years), 1st year’

Eusebios of Nicomedia, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 1st year
Cyril, 6th year

Athanasios, 17th year

Phlakitos, 3rd year

Illn this year* Constantius built the harbour at Seleukeia in Syria by
cutting deep into a mountain, and rebuilt the city.. He also founded
a city in Phoenicia, which he named Constantia. It had previously
been known as Antarados.il> Sabores, the Persian emperor, invaded
Mesopotamia and besieged Nisibis for 78 days, but once again

retreated in shame. 1°

AM 5810 Chronographia

I lln the same year, there occurred an eclipse of the sun on the 6th
of the month Daisios so that the stars were visible in the sky at the
third hour of the day.I\"

IlAthanasios and Paul and all the others who had been expelled for
the sake of their correct belief sought refuge with Julius in Rome,
where each explained his personal circumstances to Julius. He

restored each to his own church with letters [of appointment].II*

"Cf. Chr. J24, 102. 13-14, Jerome, Chron. 236g (AD 346); Kedr. 523. 13;
Julian, Or. 1. 40d, (Hypoth. Arian] 21.

& Cf. Chr. 724, 102. 15-16; [Hypoth. Arian] 21. © Cf. Chr. 724, 103. 13-15;
Jerome, Chron. 236ft or 1; [Hypoth. Arian] 21. Cf. Jerome, Chron. 236k (AD
347]; Kedr. 523. 16; [Hypoth. Arian] 21. <= Theod. Lect. 63 (32. 27~33- 7); cf.

Sokr. ii. 14-15.

Liberius was pope from 17 May 352 to 24 Sept. 366.

* Theophanes appears to b e relying onan eastern] Syriac] source for much
of this year.

3 Constantius was at Nisibis in May 345 (CTh 11. 7.5) but probably was
not there when the siege was lifted (Barnes, Phoenix 30 (1976), 163). So
Jerome's date should be kept.

4 6 June 346 (Boll, RE vi. 2362).

AM 5839 [AD 346/7]

Year of the divine Incarnation 339

Constantius, emperor of the Romans (24 years), nth year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 45th year
Liberius, bishop of Rome (6 years), 2nd year

Eusebios, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 2nd year
Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (15 years), 7th year
Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (46 years), 18th year
Phlakitos, 26th bishop of Antioch (12 years), 4th year

llIn this year Athanasios and Paul and their companions, relying on
the letters of Julius, the Pope at Rome, returned to their own sees. u1°
But when Constantius, who was residing in Antioch, learned that
Julius had restored Paul and Athanasios to their thrones by means of
his letters, he angrily ordered their expulsion from their thrones.! 1”!
I lln the same year the sun again became darker at the second hour

on a Sunday.II**

° Theod. Lect. 63 (33. 7-8); cf. Sokr. ii. 15. > Theod. Lect. 64 (33. 12-13); cf.
Sokr. ii. 16. ¢ [Hypoth. Arian] 22.

" Theophanes combines and confuses several events. Athanasios, Paul (of
Constantinople), and others, who had been restored in 337 and subsequently

Chronogiaphia AM 582,6

ejected, were in Rome in 339-40. They gained Julius’ support following the
Council of Rome in 340, but Athanasios’ deposition was reconfirmed by the
Synod of Antioch in 341 (see AM 5833): see Barnes, Athanasius, chs. 5-10.
Constantius’ anger at the restoration of Paul (Theophanes has added
Athanasios who is not mentioned in Theod. Lect. or Sokr.) was probably in
344 (see PLRE i. 696, Philippus 7) and is related by Theophanes at AM 5849.
Theophanes is right, perhaps by chance, to place Athanasios’ return to
Alexandria in 346 (in fact on 21 Oct.) while Constantius was in Antioch, but
the return was made with Constantius’ approval. This triumphant return is
mentioned late in AM 5849.
* g Oct. 348 (Boll, RE vi. 2363).

[AM 5840, AD 347/8]

Constantius, 12th year
Sabores, 46thyear
Liberius, 3rd year
Eusebios, 3rd year
Cyril, 8thyear
Athanasios, 19th year
Phlakitos, 5th year

IlIn this year most of the city of Berytos in Phoenicia collapsed dur-
ing a severe earthquake. As a result, many pagans entered the
Church professing to be Christians just like us. Thereupon some of
them introduced an innovation and went forth after robbing, as it
were, the Church of her usages. They appointed a place of prayer and
received the throng into it, imitating all the customs of the Church
and becoming very close to us (just as the heresy of the Samaritans
[is close] to the Jews), while still living in the pagan fashion. I\*

[Hypoth. Arian] 23.

[AM 5841, AD 348/9]

Constantius, 13th year
Sabores, 47th year
Liberius, 4th year
Eusebios, 4th year
Cyril, 9thyear
Athanasios, 20th year
Phlakitos, 6th year

In this year Sabores, the emperor of Persia, once again besieged
Nisibis’ and troubled it considerably, since he had brought a

AM5 810 Chronographia

number of elephants capable of fighting on his side and mercenary
princes and all kinds of war engines by which he threatened to
destroy the city to its foundations unless they agreed to depart.
When the people of Nisibis refused to surrender, he determined that
he would next flood the city by [redirecting] the river that is next to
it. But the men overcame the enemy by their prayers having God's
goodwill on their side. For as the waters were about to bring down
the walls and flatten them to the ground, one part of the wall gave
way, indeed by God's dispensation, as will be made clear in what fol-
lows. For it came about straight away that the city was saved and the
enemy were swimming in the waters and many [of them] were
destroyed by the water. Even after this set-back, the enemy threat-
ened to come in through the collapsed section of the wall, having
brought up armed elephants and having made their troops ready to
pursue the war more vehemently with all kinds of engines. But the
soldiers guarding the city then gained the victory through divine
providence by filling the place with all manner of weapons and by
using catapults to kill most of the elephants. Some fell in the mud
of the ditches. Others, after being struck, were forced back and over
ten thousand of their troops died. A thunderbolt from heaven struck
the rest and the din of thunder, of gloomy clouds, and violent rain
brought panic to all so that the majority died of fright. Assailed on
all sides, the new Pharaoh, Sabores, was overcome by the waves of
fear. Directing his gaze at the collapsed section of wall, he saw an
angel in brilliant apparel standing on the top, holding the emperor
Constantius by the hand.* Terrified by this, he threatened the magi
with instant death. When they had learned the reason, they admit-
ted in their interpretation to the emperor that the vision had greater
power than they had. Having, therefore, recognized the cause of the
danger and being filled with fear, he ordered that the war engines be
burned and that the remaining equipment which had been prepared
for the war be destroyed. He himself with his entourage made for his
country in flight, but they perished first from a pestilential dis-
ease.II"

* Cf. Chron. Pasch. 536. 18-539. 3, citing a letter by bishop Valageses of Nisibis as
the source, i.e. Vologeses, third bishop of Nisibis, c.350-361/2, [Hypoth. Arian] 24d.

" Cf. the invasion accounts of AM 5829 (336/7), 5838 (345/6). See J.-M.
Fiey, Nisibe, metropole syrienne otientale (CSCO 388, sub. 54, Louvain,

1977).

? Chron. Pasch.'s version is more detailed than Theophanes here in a way
that suggests more clearly divine support for the (Arian) Constantius.
Theophanes appears to have minimized deliberately these details which

Chionogzaphia AM 5815

were presumably in his source since much of the rest of the narrative is
word for word identical with Chron. Pasch., though overall Theophanes'
narrative is clearer than that of Chron. Pasch. Cf. AM 5849, n. 21. See now
Whitby and Whitby, Chron. Pasch. 28-9 n. 89.

[AM 5842, AD 349/50]

Constantius, 14th year
Sabores, 48 th year
Liberius, 5th year
Eusebios, 5th year
Cyril, 10th year
Athanasios, 21st year
Phlakitos, 7th year

IlIn this year Constantius, ruling as sole Augustus, proclaimed that
his own cousin Gallus was to have a share in his empire as Caesar.’
After bestowing on him the surname Constantius, he dispatched
him to Antioch in the East while the Persians were still attacking. I \*

"Cf. Sokr. ii. 28 (very close to Theoph.), [Hypoth. Arian] 25a.

* Gallus was proclaimed Caesar on 15 Mar. 351, see PLRE i. 224-5.

[AM 5843, AD 350/1]

Constantius, 15th year
Sabores, 49th year
Liberius, 6th year
Eusebios, 6th year
Cyril, 1th year
Athanasios, 22nd year
Phlakitos, 8th year

Illn this year there was an uprising of the Jews in Palestine. They
killed a great many aliens, both pagans and Samaritans. Then their
whole race was destroyed by the Roman army, and their city,
Diocaesarea, was wiped out. 0"

IIn the same year Constantius, becoming angry with Liberius,
who had written to him in defence of the consubstantial and about
the holy Athanasios, sent orders that he be banished to Beroia in
Thrace,’ at the instigation of the chief eunuch Eusebios, an Arian
supporter. They ordained in his place Felix, a deacon of the same
church, who had accepted the Synod of Nicaea, but foolishly was in

AM 5843 Chionographia

communion with the Arians. The people of Rome would not suffer
to be in communion with him, so they established a separate con-
gregation of their own. At Constantius’ command a synod was held
in Milan,* attended by 300 western bishops but very few eastern
ones. It disbanded with nothing accomplished as the westerners
again would not accept the charges against the holy Athanasios. At
the request of the Romans the emperor was forced to recall Liberius
and to restore him to his throne. Felix departed from Rome, never to
return. 13

" Theod. Lect. 90 (43. 15-17); cf. Soz. iv. 7, Sokr. ii. 33, Jerome, Chion. 238f |ad 352),
[Hypoth. Arian] 26a. > Theod. Lect. 94 (44. 32-45. 23); cf. Theod. HE ii. 16-17.

* Liberius was deposed in 355, and recalled on 2 Aug. 358 by Constantius
on condition that he ruled jointly with Felix.

2 In 355-
3 Theophanes quotes exactly from Theod. Lect., whereas the source

(Theod.) accurately has 'retired to another city’. On Felix's future and his
fame in the medieval tradition, see Duchesne, ii. 360-r.

[AM 5844, AD 351/2]

Constantius, 16th year

Sabores, 5 oth year

Felix, 35th bishop of Rome (1 year), 1st year’
Eusebios, 7th year

Cyril, i2thyear

Athanasios, 23rd year

Phlakitos, 9th year

* Felix was a Roman martyr, not a pope, but appears in lists as pope from
355 to 22 Nov. 365.

[AM 5845, AD 352/3]

Constantius, 17th year

Sabores, 51st year

Damasus, 36th bishop of Rome (28 years), 1st year’
Eusebios, 8th year

Cyril, 13th year

Athanasios, 24th year

Phlakitos, 10th year

* Damasus was pope from r Oct. 366 to ri Dec. 384.

Chionogzaphia AM 5815

[AM 5846, AD 353/4]

Constantius, 18th year
Sabores, 5 2nd year
Damasus, 2nd year
Eusebios, 9 th year
Cyril, 14th year
Athanasios, 25th year
Phlakitos, nth year

I In this year Gallus, also known as Constantius, who as Caesar had
met with success at war, was not content with his good fortune and
plotted a usurpation. He killed Domitian, the prefect of the East, and
the quaestor Magnus, both of whom had revealed his plot to
Constantius. Constantius recalled Gallus and ordered his execution
on the island of Thalmon and also had his brother Julian put under
arrest. I\* But Eusebia, the wife of Constantius, made a plea on his
behalf and sent him to Athens. I 1™

"Theod. Lect. 90 (43. 17-23); cf. Sokr. ii. 32-4, Theod. Lect. 121 (56. 13-15), Soz. v.
2. > Theod. Lect. 121 (56. 15-16); cf. Soz. v. 2.

* Amm. Marc. xiv. 11-xv. 2 offers a more detailed account of these
events.

AM 5847 [AD 354/5]

Constantius, emperor of the Romans (24 years), 19th year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 53rd year
Damasus, bishop of Rome (28 years), 3rd year

Eusebios, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 10th year
Hilarius, bishop of Jerusalem (12 years), 1st year
Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (46 years), 26th year
Phlakitos, bishop of Antioch (12 years), 12th year

IIIn this year Akakios of Caesarea and Patrophilos of Skythopolis,
being Arians, deposed Maximus of Jerusalem and replaced him with
Cyrill whom they believed to be of their persuasion.’

nAt this time, while Cyril was bishop of Jerusalem, the sign of the
life-giving Cross appeared in the sky on the day of Pentecost. It was
luminous and stretched from Golgotha, where Christ was crucified,
to the Mount of Olives, where He was taken up. All round the sign
that appeared was a crown like the rainbow.” And on the same day
it was seen by Constantius. Concerning this [event] there exists a
letter from Cyril to Constantius n° in which he refers to the emperor

AM 5810 Chronographia

as most pious.? For this reason some people accuse Cyril of
Arianism, alleging also that he had omitted the term 'consubstan-
tial' in his catechisms which he gave for the benefit of the uniniti-
ated masses who had come forward to receive holy baptism because
of the miracle of the life-giving Cross. They are, however, deceived
and in error. I I° For it was essential to refer to the emperor in a spirit
of compromise as 'most pious’ inasmuch as he had been beguiled
into heresy by the evil work of the Arians, through his own simplic-
ity and not by his intent, and considering also that paganism had not
yet been finally overthrown. [It was also essential] not to utter the
term 'consubstantial' which was as yet confusing many persons and,
because of the opposition of its enemies, discouraging those who
sought baptism, but instead to make clear the meaning of the con-
substantial through equivalent words. This is what the blessed Cyril
had done by unfolding the Nicene creed word for word and preach-
ing that the Son was truly God from a truly divine Father.

" Theod. Lect. 100 (47. 2.7—8|; cf. Sokr. ii. 38, [Hypoth. ArianJ 25a. > Theod.
Lect. 87 (42. 28-311 (Theophanes' account is more detailed); cf. Soz. iv. 5, Chron.
Pasch. 540. 13-19, Jacob of Edessa in Elias of Nisibis, 256, Mich. Syr. i. 267, [Hypoth.
Arian] 25a. ¢ [Hypoth. Arian] 25a.

" Theophanes adds 'whom they believed to be of their persuasion’ (not in
Theod. Lect. or Sokr.). Cyril replaced Maximus in 350 or 351 (Grumel, 451).
Note the discrepancy with the chronological list which makes AM 5846
Cyril's last year.

> "In the year 663) = AD 352), a cross appeared in the sky in the East on the
fifth of the month iyar ( = May)', Jacob of Edessa in Elias Nis. 256.

3 Soz. does not refer to the emperor's piety, which appears to be
Theophanes' addition, although Cyril's letter is extant (PG 33: 1165-76). It
appears to be important for Theophanes that Cyril of Jerusalem be shown to
be orthodox. This is perhaps evidence of a Jerusalem influence.

[AM 5848, AD 355/6]

Constantius, 20th year

Sabores, 54th year

Damasus, 4th year

Eusebios, nth year

Hilarius, 2nd year

Athanasios, 30th year

Stephen 1st Arian and 27th bishop of Antioch (3 years), 1st year

Chronogiaphia AM 582,6

[AM 5849, AD 356/7]'

Constantius, 21st year
Sabores, 55th year
Damasus, 5 th year
Eusebios, 12th year
Hilarius, 3rd year
Athanasios, 31st year
Stephen, 2nd year

Illn this year, after the death of the impious Eusebios who had ruled
the throne of Constantinople, Athanasios and Paul went back again
to Rome’ to Pope Julius and the emperor Constans, the brother of
Constantius.II* For on Eusebios' death the people had restored Paul
to the throne at Constantinople, whereas the Arians ordained
Makedonios instead, so that a civil war broke out. When
Constantius, who was residing in Antioch, heard of this, he com-
manded Hermogenes, who had been sent as magister militum to
Thrace, to expel Paul from the Church as an incidental job along the
way.’ When Hermogenes attempted to carry out the task, the people
burned down his house, killed him, and threw his body into the sea.*
And so when news of this reached the emperor at Antioch, he pro-
ceeded to the capital, and, after expelling Paul from the throne,
delayed for a while the enthronement of Makedonios. And because
of his anger over the murder of Hermogenes, he fined the city 40,000
daily loaves of bread out of the 80,000 that it had been given by his
father.I\° It was then that Paul, as has been said, went to Julius of
Rome and returned to Constantinople with a letter from him.II‘
Constantius was again in Antioch, but at the news that Julius had
restored Paul to his throne, he angrily ordered the prefect Philip to
drive Paul out? and in his place establish Makedonios on the throne.
The prefect, in fear over what had happened to Hermogenes because
of Paul, summoned Paul to the baths of Zeuxippos, let him out
through a window and exiled him to Thessalonica, of which he was
a native. Then, taking Makedonios up in his own carriage and acting
like a brigand, he established him as a tyrant over the Church, while
the orthodox put up so much opposition that 3,150 men were killed.
It was in this manner that the Arians gained control of the
Church. I\‘ Then Constantius threatened Athanasios with death and
he, in fear, fled to Rome once more, as did also Paul from
Thessalonica.° They both approached Constans and gave an account
of their situation. Constans, grieving over these holy men, wrote’ in
sorrow to his brother Constantius that he should give Paul and
Athanasios back their thrones; I \° otherwise he threatened to declare

74.

AM 5810 Chronographia

war on him. 1 He also urged him to hold a synod at Serdica, which
was attended by 300 western bishops and 36 eastern ones.® The lat-
ter opposed the westerners by requesting that Athanasios and Paul
be expelled first. But Hosios, bishop of Cordova, and Protogenes of
Serdica would not accept that the holy men Athanasios and Paul
should not be present. Thereupon the easterners gathered at
Philippoupolis and shamelessly anathematized the consubstantial.?
The orthodox at Serdica ratified the correct definition of the Nicene
creed and anathematized the 'unlikeness'. They restored Athanasios
and Paul to their thrones and also Marcellus of Ancyra, who con-
fessed the consubstantial and defended his position by saying that
his accusers had misinterpreted his writings.1After the synod of
Serdica had taken such measures against the dissident easterners
and had ratified the consubstantial, Constantius pretended to
receive Athanasios and Paul with honour and gave them back their
thrones. I\" So Athanasios came to Alexandria” and, after driving out
the Arian George, was received with great rejoicing. 1 When the
Augustus Constantius, who was residing at Antioch, heard that
Magnentius had usurped power in Gaul” and murdered the pious
Constans he immediately sent instructions that Paul be exiled from
the city to Koukousos, where he was killed by Arians.” Thereupon
Makedonios took over the throne. 1

NConstantius set out for Italy against Magnentius.u‘? The
Roman Senate invested Nepotianus with authority and sent him
against Magnentius, with whom he clashed in Rome, but was killed
by him after three months’ as emperor.I!) Before the emperor
reached Rome, Constantia, also known as Helena (Constantius'’ sis-
ter), proclaimed Bretanion’® as emperor, a man of high rank, and
sent him to do battle with Magnentius. When Constantius reached
Rome he received Bretanion with great honourll™ and they both
fought Magnentius near Mursa.”” Magnentius was defeated and fled
to Italy.I\" After many encounters with Constantius’ generals,
Magnentius clashed with them on Mount Seleukos, was defeated
and fled to Lugdunum. After first killing his brother and his mother,
he later committed suicide.” His brother, the Caesar Dicentius,
hanged himself.’? Next Silvanus, who had usurped power in Gaul,”°
was killed by Constantius’ generals. 1°

nu After reaching Rome, Constantius made his entry with much
pomp and ostentation and was given titles exceeding those of the
emperors before him.” He was accompanied by his wife Eusebia and
he stayed in Rome for fourteen days.\HP During his stay in Rome he
went to the Campus Tribunalis and, standing on a height in the pres-
ence of the army and of Bretanion, he addressed the host, arguing

Chronogiaphia AM582,6

that a [necessary] consequence of imperial government was that
authority should remain in the hands of the one who had inherited
it from his imperial ancestors, and that it was of benefit to the com-
monwealth that public affairs be managed by a single authority, and
so forth. He then stripped Bretanion (who had ruled for 10 months)
of his power but at the same time shared his table with him at a ban-
quet, and then sent him to Prousa in Bithynia bestowing on him full
honours, a bodyguard, and many favours. Being a Christian,
Bretanion frequented the church and gave many alms to the poor. He
also honoured the priests until his last day. 1?

HConstantius returned to ByzantiumlK and, at the request of his
wife Eusebia, released Gallus’ brother Julian from prison,I I° pro-
moted him to Caesar” and, after uniting him in marriage to his own
sister Helena (also known as Constantia), sent him to Gaul.II'*?

IlIn the same year Julius the pope died in Rome and Liberius was
elected in his place. 11"*4 He was an admirable man in every respect,
and orthodox. uThe Arians so moved the emperor against
Athanasios that he was condemned on a capital charge. But the holy
man fled once again and gained safety. I !’”®

"Theod. Lect. 63 (32. 26-9); cf. Sokr. ii. 14-15 with a considerably different
arrangement from that of Theophanes. > Theod. Lect. 62 (31. 28-32. 25); cf.
Sokr. ii. t2. © Cf. 'a' plus Theod. Lect. 63 (32. 26-33. 7); cf- Sokr. ii. 14-15.
4 Theod. Lect. 64 (33. 0-19); cf. Sokr. ii. 16. © Theod. Lect. 66 (34. 11-17); cf.
Theod. HE ii. 4. > Theod. Lect. 71 (36. 30-11; cf. Sokr. ii. 22. « Theod.
Lect. 69 (35. 19-31); cf. Sokr. ii. 20. » Theod. Lect. 71 (36. 28-9, 31-2); 80 ( 39.
22-5); cf. Sokr. ii. 22, 23. " Theod. Lect. 81 (39. 30-1); cf. Sokr. ii. 24, [Hypoth.
k Cf. Chron.
Pasch 536. 15-17, [Hypoth. Arian] 24a. " Cf. Theod. Lect. 83 (40. 32-5); cf.
Sokr. ii. 25. ™ Chron. Pasch. 539. 5-10. Chron. Pasch. 540. 21-3,
[Hypoth. Arian] 25b. ° Theod. Lect. 89 (43. 10-14); cf. Sokr. ii. 32, Chron.
Pasch. 541. 10-13, (Hypoth. Arian] 27a, 29a. e Cf. Chron. Pasch. 542. 19-543.
2, [Hypoth. Arian] 29a. "Chron. Pasch. 539. 10-16, 539. 19-540. 6. Cf. Theod.
Lect. 86 (42. 23-5), (but it is not close], Sokr. ii. 28. ' Cf. Jerome, Chron. 240a

Arian] 24a. " Theod. Lect. 84 (41. 20-4); cf. Sokr. ii. 26.

(AD 355), and many parallel accounts, [Hypoth. Arian] 28a. s Theod. Lect. 121
(56. 14-16); cf. Soz. v. 2, [Hypoth. Arian] 28a. "Chron. Pasch. 541. %-542. 3,
{[Hypoth. Arian] 28a. "Theod. Lect. 91 (43. 24-5); cf. Sokr. ii. 34.
" Theod. Lect. 84 (41. 25-7); cf. Sokr. ii. 26.

" The errors and confusions in Theophanes' account of this year are too
numerous to receive more than a superficial listing.

* Athanasios did flee from Alexandria in 356 but not to Rome |he hid in
the desert 356-62): see Barnes, Athanasius, 121 f. That was after Syrianos
was sent to eject him following the Council of Serdica, but Theophanes has
already described this incident at AM 5833.

3 The remaining incidents in the paragraph all belong to about 342-50
and not to 355/6.

AM 5810 Chronographia

In 342.

C.344 (see PLRE i. 696).

Cf. the doublet of this at AM 5839.

C.344 (Sokr. ii. 22).

Constans' letter followed rather than preceded the Synod at Serdica in

on au a

Also in 343.

In 346 (see Barnes, Athanasius, 90-2).

r8 Ian. 350 (see PLRE i. 532). Constans was murdered in the same year.
In 350 by Philippos. For Koukousos see AM 5969, n. 4.

Latein35r.

“ In fact 28 days (3-30 June 350). Nepotianus was a nephew of
Constantine.

% Not in fact Constantia-Helena but Constantina, also a sister of
Constantius. She was married to Hannibalianus 337 to 339 and to Gallus
351 to 354, cf. PLRE i. 222.

‘7 Osijek, about no km. north-west of Belgrade, on 28 Sept. 351.

8 10 Aug. 353.

18 Aug. 353.

*° Augustus in 355. A detailed account of the revolt is given by Amm.
Marc. xv. 5, with brief accounts in many other sources, including Sokr. ii.
32, Soz. iv. 7, Theod. HE ii. 16.

* The common source of Theophanes and Chron. Pasch. appears to have
been pro-Arian, emphasizing God's suport for Constantius and his care for
the churches. Theophanes has omitted this (unlike Chron. Pasch.] and
apparently substituted the claim that Constantius received more titles than
his predecessors which is not in Chron. Pasch. Cf. AM 5841.

* 6 Nov. 355.

*3 366.

** Contrast both the chronological tables (Julius diedat AM 5837, Liberius
at AM 5843) and Theophanes' narrative. Liberius has already appeared as
pope at AM 5838 in the chronological tables and AM 5 843 in the narrative, and
is restored by Jovian at AM 5858. Julius has received Athanasius and Paul in
AM 5838 and again earlier in this year.

* Cf. 'a' and 'e' above.

AM 5850 [AD 357/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 350

Constantius, emperor of the Romans (24 years), 22nd year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 56th year
Damasus, bishop of Rome (28 years), 6th year
Makedonios, bishop of Constantinople (1 year), istyear
Hilarius, bishop of Jerusalem (12 years), 4th year

Chronogiaphia AM 5852

Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (46 years), 32nd year
Stephen, bishop of Antioch (3 years), 3rd year

IlIn this year the city of Nicomedia was thrown down by a severe
earthquake at about the third hour at night, and a great many people
lost their lives. Among those who perished was the city's bishop
Kekropios.1l*

° Chron. Pasch. 543. 5-8. Cf. Jerome, Chron. 241a |AD 358); Chr. Edess. a.670 ( = AD
359), and many parallels cited by Helm at Jerome, loc. cit.

[AM 5851, AD 358/9]

Constantius, 23 rd year

Sabores, 57 th year

Damasus, 7th year

Makedonios, 2nd year

Hilarius, 5th year

Athanasios, 3 3rd year

Leontios, bishop of Antioch (8 years), 1st year

[AM 5852, AD 359/60]

Constantius, 24th year

Sabores, 58 th year

Damasus, 8 th year

Eudoxios, bishop of Constantinople after Makedonios' expulsion,
ist year

Hilarius, 6th year

Athanasios, 34th year

Leontios, 2nd year

uStill holding the throne of Constantinople like a usurper,
Makedonios transferred the body of Constantine the Great to St
Akakios from the Holy Apostles, pleading the [imminent] collapse
of that church. But when the people opposed him, there was consid-
erable loss of life, with the result that the well and courtyard of the
martyrium and the adjacent streets were filled with blood. When
Constantius learned of this he became annoyed with Makedonios, *
ordered his deposition, and installed Eudoxios in his place, exchang-
ing a great evil for a greater one.Il”"

Illn this year the Persians captured the fort named Bedzabde.* On
hearing that Julian, who had won success in his campaigns in Gaul,

AM 5810 Chronographia

had been proclaimed emperor by the army, Constantius, who was
residing in Antioch because of the Persian War, marched out against
the usurper Julian.I © When he had reached Mampsoukrenai,’ the
first stopping point after Tarsos in Cilicia, he died on the 3rd of the
month of Dios, I\“ having repented greatly of his folly. IiHe had been
baptized at that time in Antioch by the Arian Euzoiosll® in the
5,852nd universal year of the world, at the end of the nth period of
532 years and the beginning of the 12th.II*° Then indeed Julian, as
sole emperor, showed his paganism shamelessly, washing away his
holy baptism with the blood of sacrifice and doing everything by
which demons are served. n«

" Theod. Lect. 101 (47. 29—351; cf Sokr. ii. 38. > Theod. Lect. 107(51. 38-52.
23); cf. Sokr. ii. 43. © [Hypoth. Arian] 32a. 4 Chron. Pasch. 545. 7-12;
[Hypoth. Arian] 32a. © Theod. Lect. 117 (55. 22-3); cf. Soz. v. 1, Sokr. ii. 47.
f Cf. Excerpta Latina Barbari (ed. A. Schoene, Eusebii Chronica, I (1875], app. 6, p.
236). * Theod. Lect. 122 (56. 17-19),- cf. Soz. v. 2.

" 27 Jan. 360.

* Bedzabde is usually identified as Cizre on the Tigris about 100 km.
below the junction of the east and west branches. C. S. Lightfoot in S.
Mitchell, ed., Armies and Frontiers in Byzantine Anatolia, (BAR 156; 1983),
189-204, suggests an unnamed hill a little further south.

3 About 20 km. horth of Tarsos.

4 Dios is Nov. In fact he died in 361 but Theophanes has got the day and
month right.

> The cycle of 532 years (the lunar cycle of 19 years multiplied by the
solar cycle of 28 years) was used in determining the date of Easter. See
Grumel, 129 ff. Cf. Chron. Pasch. 534 (a.344) with the lucid notes by Whitby
and Whitby, ad loc.

AM 5853 [AD 360/1]

Year of the divine Incarnation 353

Julian, emperor of the Romans (3 years), 1st year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 59th year
Damasus, bishop of Rome (28 years), 9th year
Eudoxios, bishop of Constantinople (10 years), 2nd year
Hilarius, bishop of Jerusalem (14 years), 7th year
Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (46 years), 35th year
Leontios, bishop of Antioch (8 years), 3rd year

In this year Julian the transgressor became emperor and sole ruler
because of the mass of our sins. 1 For, puffed up by his victory over
the barbarians, after taking power for himself and donning the dia-

Chronogiaphia AM582,6

dem before Constantius’ death, he turned shamelessly to pagan-
ism.1l*° That was why Constantius, extremely penitent at the news
of the murder of his kinsmen, the new departure from the faith, and
the proclamation of the apostate, gave up his soul. 11S0 when Julian
the Apostate had gained sole power by divine judgement, manifold
visitations of divine wrath invaded the Roman world. 1° Wishing to
show that Constantius had been unjust and inhumane, this lawless
man, feigning righteousness, recalled the exiled bishops’ and exe-
cuted Eusebios, chief of the palace eunuchs, for supposed injustice.
He also drove the other eunuchs from the palace since he had dis-
solved the marriage by which Constantius had linked him to his sis-
ter. Similarly he expelled the cooks, because of his frugal ways, and
the barbers, since one was sufficient for many, as he used to say.
From the public post he removed the camels and asses, the oxen and
mules, and only allowed horses to serve,u° because of the great
avarice to which he was a slave, evento the point of idolatry. I lit was
then that the pagans in the East, being straight away puffed up,
killed the bishop George of Alexandria by dragging him and insulted
his corpse in a godless way by placing it on a camel and parading it
through the city and, after mixing his remains with the bones of
dead animals, burned and scattered them.11° Then Athanasios, who
had been hiding for a long time with a certain virgin, came out and
convened a synod in Alexandria; he ratified the doctrines of Nicaea
and received back the churches. The Arians, for their part, elected
Lucius for themselves to replace George and would assemble in an
ordinary house.I 1° The pagans crucified and murdered many other
Christians. 1V Having dug up the relics of St Patrophilos, bishop of
Skythopolis, they insolently hung up his skull and mocked it and
scattered the rest of them. In Gaza and Askalon they killed the pres-
byters and ever-virgins, cut open their innards, filled them with bar-
ley-corn and tossed them to the pigs. In Phoenicia the Helioupolitans
killed the deacon Cyril and ate a piece of his liver, because he had
overturned their idols in the times of the blessed Constantine. The
man who had cut up the deacon and tasted his liver suffered as fol-
lows. After his tongue had rotted he vomited it up and lost his teeth
and his sight failed and, tortured like this, he died.IIs To the
Christians of Caesarea in Cappadocia Julian did much harm, even
depriving the city of its status and of its name of Caesarea, ordering
that it be called Mazaka as it had been in earlier times, because the
Christians there in the time of Constantius had done much harm to
the pagans and pulled down the temple of Tyche.! \' In Arethousa he
did terrible things to the Christians, in particular to the most holy
monk Mark, u' who had saved Julian by hiding him when the army

AM 5 853 Chronographia

was killing the kinsmen of Constantius’ family. His innards* while
he was still alive. u' In Emesa, he set up a statue of Dionysos in the
cathedral church and pulled down the old church.1Maris of
Chalcedon hurled much abuse at Julian to his face while he was
about to sacrifice at the temple of Tyche, but being a philosopher (as
he pretended) he put up with the insults. 11

" Cf. Theod. Lect. 117 (55. 20-1) rewritten by Theophanes, Soz. v. 1, Sokr. ii. 47.

> Theod. Lect. 149 (61. 19-20); cf. Soz. vi. 2. © Theod. Lect. 123-4 (57- 1-9); cf.
Sokr. iii. 1. 4 Chron. Pasch. 546. 4-11; cf. Theod. Lect. 125 (57. 10-15), Sokr.
iii. 2, |Hypoth. Arian] 33a. © Theod. Lect. 130 (58. 8-12); cf. Soz. v. 6-7, 12,
Sokr. iii. 4, 6, 7. f Cf. Theod. Lect. 125 (57. 11-12); cf. Sokr. iii. 2.
s Chron. Pasch. 546. 14-547. 5; cf. Chr. 846, p.153, 19-26, [Hypoth. Arian] 33e.
» Theod. Lect. 126 (57. 17-22); cf. Sokr. v. 4. 1 Theod. Lect. 128 (58. 4-6)
restored from Ps.-Pollux, 372. 16-20; cf. Theod. HE iii. 7, Greg. Naz. Or. 4. 86,
[Hypoth. Arian] 33g. ' [Hypoth. Arian] 33g. * Chron. Pasch. 547. 6-7,-
[Hypoth. Arian] 33g. ' Theod. Lect. 127 (58. 1-3); cf. Soz. v. 4.

9 Feb. 362. cf. Amm. Marc. xxii. 5. 3, Ruf. HEi. 27.
* Cf. CTh viii. 5. 12 (22 Feb. 362) restricting use of the public post.

[AM 5854, AD 361/2]

Julian, 2nd year
Sabores, 6oth year
Damasus, 1oth year
Eudoxios, 3rd year
Hilarius, 8th year
Athanasios, 36th year
Leontios, 4th year

llIn this year the impious Julian introduced a law that Christians
could not take part in pagan education.’ Apolinarios, using material
from the Holy Scriptures, imitated the idioms of the ancients and
composed a work against Julian which he entitled 'For Truth’, which
greatly benefited the Church. Julian ordered the expulsion of the
great Athanasios from Alexandria being strongly urged against him
by the pagans.* As he left, Athanasios encouraged the Christians
who were weeping on his behalf. 'Take heart,’ he said, 'he is just a
little cloud and will pass by.' Julian also wrote to the people of Bostra
to expel their holy bishop Titus from the city.w’ Dorotheos, the
sorely tried bishop of Tyre, the eloquent author of many ecclesiasti-
cal histories, who had been a confessor under Diocletian and again
under Licinius, now that he had reached a venerable old age in the

second year of the transgressor, was discovered by that man's offi-

Chronogiaphia AM582,6

cials living privately in Odyssopolis, and after being severely mal-
treated for his belief in Christ, he was killed at the age of 107.11'%

lllIn imitation of the good works of the Christians, Julian ordered
that provisions be supplied to wayfarers and beggars, so deceiving
the simple-minded. The impious man ordered that representations
of Zeus, Ares, Hermes, and the other demons be added to his own
images, and that those who refused obeisance to them were to be
punished as enemies of the emperor. At the distribution of wages to
the army, he would set out fire and incense and compelled the army
to burn incense. 1°

11At Caesarea Philippi, now called Paneas, from where the woman
with an issue of blood came, a statue of the Lord used to stand in
front of her house, which she had set up as a mark of thanksgiving
in the pagan custom. The impious Julian ordered that this be pulled
down. This was done, the pagans mocking as they dragged the statue
away and in its place set up an effigy in Julian's name. The
Christians took their statue and placed it in the church. Fire then
descended from heaven and burned the effigy of the transgressor.
And at the base of the statue [of Christ] a herb grew which was a
guard against every disease, 1° and it was this which drove the apos-
tate Julian in jealousy to overturn the statue of the Lord.

11At Nikopolis in Palestine, previously called Emmaus, there is a
spring which provides cures for all kinds of diseases for both men
and beasts. For they say that the Lord our God Jesus Christ washed
his feet in it after a journey. u° That man ordered it to be covered with
earth.11 At Hermoupolis in the Thebaid a persea tree stands. Anyone
who takes a leaf or twig of it finds a cure for every human [disease].
And they say that when the Lord was in this region with rhe Mother
of God and Joseph, fleeing to Egypt from Herod, the tree bent down
to the ground and did homage to Him and up to the present it keeps
the shape of its adoration. IV

IIjJulian, who was residing in Antioch and continually went up to
Daphne to honour the idol of Apollo, did not receive any reply from
it, which he was expecting. And realizing that the relics of the holy
martyr Babylas, which lay in Daphne, were keeping the idol silent,
he sent out a decree that all the relics of the dead buried there,
including those of the martyr, were to be moved. When this hap-
pened, the temple was burned down completely during the night [by
a fire] from heaven, and the idol was so burned up that not a trace of
it remained (it was said to have stood for years), while the temple
was so utterly destroyed that men in later times who saw its ashes
marvelled at this miracle of God's miracle-working. Julian, being

amazed at this, and suspecting that it was the result of a plot by the

AM 5810 Chronographia

Christians, began an investigation of the priests who lived there,
subjecting them to all kinds of tortures, so that some of them died.
The only thing he learned from them was that this was not the work
of Christians nor any human plot, but that the fire which burned the
temple and the statues had descended from heaven, and that on that
night, as the fire came down, it had appeared to some people in the
countryside. And so in fury and like a man doing battle with God,
the emperor closed the cathedral church and confiscated all the
sacred utensils. Two comites were sent out for this purpose, Felix
and Julian, both apostates, who said, 'We used to believe that there
was some overseeing power which ought to stop us.' Felix added,
"See what kind of utensils were used for the service of the son of
Mary.’ A little later Felix suddenly began vomiting blood, and ended
his life in torment. On the same day Comes Julian was brought down
with a most dire illness, so that even his bowels were destroyed and

he vomited excrement, and he died in torment.Ik‘4

" Theod. Lect. 131-3 (58. 13-22); cf. Soz. v. is, 18, Sokr. iii. 13, 14. >’ From
AM 5816X; cf. Mich. Syr. i. 289), [Hypoth. Arian] 34. © Theod. Lect. 135-7 (S9-
4-14); cf. Soz. v. 16-17, Theod. HE iii. 16-17, Greg. Naz. Or. 4. 82-4. 4 Theod.
Lect. 142 (60. 14-22); cf. Soz. v. 21. © Theod. Lect. 143 [60. 23-5); cf. Soz. v. 21.
£ Theod. Lect. 144 (60. 26-61. 3); cf. Soz. v. 21-2. 8s Cf. Theod. HE iii. 10-12
{and therefore presumably in Theod. Lect.), [Hypoth. Arian] 35.

* Julian, Ep. 42 (17 June 362), cf. CTh xiii. 3. 5 and see now T. M.
Banchich, Ancient World, 24 (1993), 5-14.

* Julian, Ep.6 (Oct. 362), ordered Athanasios’ exile from Alexandria; Ep.
51 (Nov.-Dec. 3 62) banished him from Egypt. Athanasios was away from 23
Oct. 362 to 14 Feb. 364.

3 Cf. AM 5816, n. 27. It is unlikely that Dorotheos of Tyre ever existed.

* Cf. Amm. Marc, xxiii. r. 5. A third comes, Helpidius, was also involved,
but he survived.

AM 5855 [AD 362/3]

Year of the divine Incarnation 355

Julian, emperor of the Romans (3 years), 3rd year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 61st year
Damasus, bishop of Rome (28 years), nth year
Eudoxios, bishop of Constantinople (10 years), 4th year
Hilarius, bishop of Jerusalem (12 years), 9th year
Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (46 years), 37th year
Leontios, bishop of Antioch (8 years), 5th year

Chronogiaphia AM 582,6

IlIn this year some soldiers under examination were tricked into
apostasy, either by the promise of gifts and rank, or else by con-
straint placed on them by their own officers. Likewise Theoteknos,
a presbyter to whom had been entrusted a church in a suburb of
Antioch, was tricked from his vow, and voluntarily went over to
idolatry. God punished him immediately. For he was eaten by
worms, lost his sight, ate his tongue, and died. And Heron, bishop of
the Thebaid, voluntarily apostatized in the city of Antioch. God
immediately punished him as follows as an example to frighten the
multitude. His limbs became weak with putrefaction and he lay
prostrate in the street and expired before the eyes of all. There were
also some who were conspicuous for their confession of Christ.
Valentinian, at the time tribune of a tagma, in the numerus known
as the Cornuti, not only disregarded his rank, but was drivfen into
exile.’ This is the man who later was proclaimed emperor by God. I I*
Likewise Jovian handed in his service-belt shouting 'I am a
Christian’. The troops loved him as their commander and implored
the emperor not to punish him.* This is the man who was pro-
claimed emperor after Julian." Artemios, dux of the diocese of
Egypt,? inasmuch as he had shown great zeal against idols in
Alexandria in the time of Constantius, had his possessions confis-
cated and was beheaded. Aemilianus, who had served as a soldier,
was martyred at Dorostolon in Thrace, having been consigned to the
flames by Capitolinus.* And many others in various places and ways
were conspicuous for their confession of Christ. A certain
Thalassios, notorious for his licentiousness and profligacy, a man
who had procured his own daughter for prostitution, was honoured
by the emperor as an examiner of entrails and lived close to the
palace in Antioch. So when his house collapsed he alone perishedll‘
along with one eunuch with whom he was found entwined. All
those who were present with him were saved, since the members of
his household were Christians, including his wife and her compan-
ions. A child, about 7 years old, who was found there and was saved,
when asked how, said 'I was held up by an angel.’

I julian of evil name, seeking to overturn God's decree, ordered the
temple of the Jews to be built, and appointed a certain pagan Alypios,
a zealous opponent of Christ, as overseer of the work.’ After he had
dug out even the hidden parts of the foundations in the course of
excavation,’ a violent wind blew with a hurricane force and com-
pletely destroyed the 200,000 modu of lime that had been prepared.
As the Jews were persisting in the undertaking, a fire shot out and
consumed them, so putting an end to their effrontery. 1°

The impious Julian wrote a refutation of the holy gospels which

AM 5810 Chronographia

Cyril the Great of Alexandria brilliantly overturned in an outstand-
ing treatise.’

llPorphyrios, the man who raged against us, a Tyrian by birth, a
wretched fellow who had earlier been a Christian, was beaten up by
the Christians of Caesarea in Palestine and in anger converted to
paganism, and then the dog dared to write an attack on the truth. 1

IllIn these times the holy Cross was seen shining in the heavens,
from Golgotha to the holy Mount of Olives, circled by a wreath of
light; it was even brighter than in the time of Constantius. Of its
own accord the sign of the Cross appeared on altar-cloths, books and
church vestments as well as on clothes not only of Christians but
also of Jews, not only in Jerusalem but in Antioch and other cities.
Those Jews and pagans who impudently did not believe, found their
clothes covered with crosses. On some they were even black. IV

uJulian dispatched numerous emissaries to oracles that gave
prophecies in different places so as to appear to be undertaking his
war against Persia under the protection of demons. Of the numerous
oracles that were brought to him from various places, I shall men-
tion just one. It was as follows: 'All we gods have set out to bring the
trophies of victory to the wild beast river. I am their leader, impetu-
ous Ares, raising the din of war.'II° Placing his trust in these, he
armed for war against the Persians, imposing severe financial penal-
ties on the Christians. When he was in Antioch on the pretext of
[buying] supplies, he was strongly insulted by the Antiochenes. It
was then that he wrote 'The Beard-Hater'’, [a work]? concerning
Antioch in which he attempted to defend himself. He cruelly tor-
mented a young man called Theodore for initiating the insults
directed at him.Il" After inflicting many great ills on the Christians
and promising to inflict many more after the Persian War, he miser-
ably ended his abominable life during the war. 1° For while in foreign
territory, he was destroyed by divine justice. In this year, having
ruled for two years and nine months, he was killed by God in
Persia,’ on 26 January’ in the 6th indiction being 31 years of age.

In the month of Daisios,” while he was in Persia, there appeared
a sign. In the house of a Christian country-woman a pitcher full of
water was changed into wine, frothing up like must at eventide. At
the same hour the filled vessel was brought into the church of that
village. The local presbyter filled a small bucket from it and brought
it to bishop Augaros.

IlIn Karrhai a woman was found hanged by her hair, and in
Antioch many human skulls were found by means of which the
Apostate had carried out his divination about the Persian War. He
had locked up these places with seals and bars. 1”

Chronogiaphia AM 5856

"Chron. Pasch. 548. 12-549. ii; [Hypoth. Arian] 36. > CF. Mich. Syr. i. 288,
who appears to be producing a doublet for Valentinian, [Hypoth. Arian] 36.
© Chron. Pasch. 549. 12-550. 4, [Hypoth. Arian] 36. ¢ Cf. Amm. Marc, xxiii. 1.
2, Philost. vii. 9, Ruf. HEx. 38, Theod. Lect. 145 (61. 4-7), Soz. v. 22, Sokr. iii. 20, Chr.
846, 153. 27-34, [Hypoth. Arian] 36. © Theod. Lect. 153 (62. 7-10); cf. Sokr. iii.
23. > [Hypoth. Arian] 37. * Cf. Theod. Lect. 146 (61. 8-11), Theod. HE
iii. 21, [Hypoth. Arian] 37. * Theod. Lect. 140 (60. 3-9); cf. Sokr. iii. 17-19, Soz.
V. 19-20. Theod. Lect. 147 (61.12-15), cf. Theod. iii. 21. ' [Hypoth.
Arian] 38. K Theod. Lect. 147 (61. 12-14); cf. Theod. HE iii. 21, 25, Soz. vi. 1-2,
Sokr. iii. 21, [Hypoth. Arian] 38. ' Theod. Lect. 150(61. 24-6); cf. Theod. HE iii.
26.

" Sokr. iv. 1 says that Valentinian offered to resign but was retained

which is perhaps supported by Ambrose, De ob. Val. 55 (see PLRE i. 933-4);
he was exiled according to Theod. HE iii. r6 and other sources (PLRE i. 933).

* The developed version of the story (Sokr. iii. 22, Oros. vii. 31, Zon. xiii.
14) that Julian refused to accept Jovian's resignation, appears to have been
invented to explain Jovian's unbroken service career.

3 Artemios was dux Aegypti in 360, while Amm. Marc. xxii. 11. 2
describes him as ex duce when he was tried and condemned. He had also
been one of the pursuers of Athanasios and had been entrusted by
Constantius with bringing the relics of the apostles Andrew, Luke, and
Timothy to Constantinople. See PLRE i. 112.

4 There exists a late and untrustworthy Martyrium S. Aemiliani (AASS
4 July, 373-6). Dorostolon (Durostorum) was in Lower Moesia on the south
bank of the Danube, the modern Silistra in Bulgaria. Capitolinus was vicar-
ius of Thrace 361-3.

> Delete comma after Karopv‘avTos and place it after ixxo'CopLov.

° Alypios was rebuilding the temple in 363, Amm. Marc, xxiii. r. 2,
PLREi. 46-7.

7 Cyril of Alexandria, Contra I[ulianum libri X, PG 76: 569-1058. This
was used by C. I. Neumann to reconstruct Julian's Against the Galilaeans
(Leipzig, 1880).

8 Porphyrios of Tyre probably died c.302 (he was bornin 233). Sokr., the
ultimate source here, does not claim the events occurred in Julian's reign. It
is unlikely that Porphyrios was fever a Christian.

° For an English translation, W. C. Wright, Julian (Loeb edn., 1913), ii.
418-511.

"ive. June. Theophanes has not noted that this makes the January’ of the
previous sentence impossible.

AM 5856 [AD 363/4]

Year of the divine Incarnation 356
Jovian, emperor of the Romans (1 year), 1st year

AM5810 Chronographia

Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 62nd year
Damasus, bishop of Rome (28 years), 12th year
Eudoxios, bishop of Constantinople (10 years), 5th year
Hilarius, bishop of Jerusalem (12 years), 10th year
Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (46 years), 38th year
Leontios, bishop of Antioch (8 years), 6th year

Illn this year the chiliarch Jovian, a most gentle man and an ortho-
dox Christian, was acclaimed Roman emperor’ by the whole army,
the generals, and the consulsl I" in that same part of the Persian land
where the Apostate had been killed. And after a single clash in
battle peace was proclaimed, as though from God, by both Romans
and Persians acting in unison and fixed for thirty years. 1” Jovian
declined the Empire, claiming he was unable to command an army
that had become pagan under Julian. To which they all shouted out
with one voice that they were Christians. I I‘ Jovian handed over the
great city of Nisibis to the Persians to ensure the safety of the
remaining army and made peace. I“ He issued general laws on behalf
of the churches throughout the Roman Empire, restoring the
catholic Church to the status and honour established in the time of
the blessed Constantine the Great. I 1* He recalled the exiled bishops
and wrote to the holy Athanasios asking him to provide an accurate
statement in writing of the creed which is without fault, which
Athanasios accomplished in a letter of complete orthodoxy that he
wrote to Jovian.? As a result Jovian became more strongly orthodox
and showered benefactions as well as a remission of taxes on those
who espoused the consubstantial. Akakios, that extremely wicked
Arian from Caesarea, after a meeting with other bishops at Antioch,
drew up a feigned statement of orthodoxy, professing the consub-
stantial and the Synod of NicaeaJK through fear of the pious
emperor, and not because of God.

llThe emperor Jovian reached the city of the Antiochenes in the
month of Hyperberetaios. A child was born to a country gardener
outside the city gate at the place called Tripylon. It was female, the
product of a seven month pregnancy, and had two separate heads,
each completely formed, being separated at the neck. It was stillborn
in the month Dios, that is November.I 1’ Jovian set out from Antioch
to Constantinople and, after reaching Ancyra in Galatia, he made a
procession as consul with his son Varonianus, proclaiming him
epiphanestatos but without granting him the purple. I\"

IllIn the same year upon reaching Dadasthana,* a village in
Bithynia, the most Christian Jovian died? after a rule of nine months
and fifteen days. The army proclaimed as emperor Valentinian®

Chronogiaphia AM 582,6

Augustus [who ruled] eleven years, because of his high repute as a
Christian confessor. He immediately set out for Constantinople, and
when he reached the Imperial City, he proclaimed his brother Valens
as partner in the Empire, I’ assigning him the eastern parts while he
himself took the West.11'

° Cf. Theod. Lect. 151 (62. 1-2), Theod. HE iv. I, Sokr. iii. 22, [Hypoth. Arian] 39.
> Cf. Theod. HE iv. 2, Mich. Syr. i. 290, Amm. Marc. xxv. 7. 14, [Hypoth. Arian] 39.
“ Cf. Theod. Lect. 151 (62. 2-4), Theod. HE iv. 1, Sokr. iii. 22. 4 Cf. Theod.
Lect. 152 (62. 5-6), Sokr. iii. 22. © Theod. Lect. 154 (62. n-13) restored from
Theophanes,-cf. Soz. vi. 3, [Hypoth. Arian]4o. > Theod. Lect. 155-7 [62. 14-23);
cf. Theod. HE iv. 2-4, Soz. vi. 3-4, Sok. iii. 25. (Theophanes has added the phrase 'that
extremely wicked Arian’.) « Cf. Mich. Syr. i. 290, Amm. Marc. xxv. 10. 1, Jac.
Edess. 212 (p. 254. 31), [Hypoth. Arian] 41. 5 [Hypoth. Arian] 41,° cf. Amm.
Marc. xxv. 10. 11. " Cf. Theod. Lect. 158 (62. 24-63. 3), Soz. vi. 6, Sokr. iv. 1,
Theod. HE iv. 6, [Hypoth. Arian] 41. > Cf. Mich. Syr. i. 292.

" Jovian was proclaimed Augustus on 27 June 363.

* By the terms of the 30 year-peace, Rome ceded to Persia not only the
five districts on the upper Tigris (Arzanene, Moxoene, Zabdicene, Rehimene
(possibly Sophene), Corduene), which had been tributary to the Romans
since 297, but also the fortresses of Nisibis and Singara, which had been
Roman since Septimius Severus. Cf. R. C. Blockley, 'The Roman-Persian
Peace Treaties of A.D. 299 and 363’, Florilegium, 6 (1984), 28-49.

3 Athanasios’ letter to Jovian, PG 26: 813-20.

* On the border of Galatia and Bithynia.

: 17 Feb. 364 [PLRE i. 934).

28 Mar. 364 [PLREi. 931).

AM 5857 [AD >64/5]

Year of the divine Incarnation 357

Valentinian, emperor of the Romans (11 years), 1st year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 63rd year
Damasus, bishop of Rome (28 years), 13th year
Eudoxios, bishop of Constantinople (10 years), 6th year
Hilarius, bishop of Jerusalem (12 years), nth year
Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (46 years), 39th year
Leontios, bishop of Antioch (8 years), 7th year

Illn this year the Augustus Valentinian proclaimed his son Gratian
Augustus, both as partner in the Empirell* and as consul,!!' having
previously proclaimed, as has been said, his brother Valens emperor,
an ardent Arian who had been baptized by Eudoxios. u? The orthodox
approached Valentinian through Hypatios, bishop of Herakleia, beg-
ging him to allow them a meeting to set aright the doctrine of the

AM 5810 Chronographia

consubstantial. To them Valentinian replied, ‘It is not proper for me,
whose place is with the laity, to interfere in such matters. Therefore,
conduct yourselves as seems best to you, priests.’ Having then
assembled at Lampsakos and spent two months there, they finally
declared the actions of Eudoxios and Akakios in Constantinople
invalid, and announced the validity of the creed of Seleukeia.* The
impious Valens overturned what had been done in Lampsakos and
sent the bishops who had gathered there into exile.* He gave the
churches of Constantinople to Eudoxios, who was of the same mind
as he was.ll* The orthodox now had neither a shepherd nor a
church.

"Cf. Chron. Pasch. 557. 7-9 (year 367), Jerome, Chron. 2.45b (AD 367), Mich. Syr. i.
292, [Hypoth. Arian], 42. > AM 5856b. © Theod. Lect. 158-9 (63. 5-17);
cf. Soz. vi. 7. Theophanes varies the language on a point of 'dogma’. Inter alia 'those
supporting the homoousion’ becomes 'the orthodox’; Theoph. adds the epithet ‘of the
same mind’. 4 Theod. Lect. 160 (63. 23-4); cf. Sokr. iv. 1.

* Gratian was consul in 366, Augustus on 24 Aug. 367 {PLRE i. 401).

* The Synod of Seleukeia in the East, corresponding to the Synod of
Ariminum in the West, took place in 359. It was anti-Arian.

3 In Spring 365.

[AM 5858 AD 365/6]

Valentinian, 2nd year
Sabores, 64th year
Damasus, 14th year
Eudoxios, 7th year
Hilarius, 12th year
Athanasios, 4oth year
Leontios, 8th year

IllIn this year Liberius, bishop of Rome, Athanasios of Alexandria,
Meletios of Antioch, and Eusebios of Samosata, who had been
recalled from exile by Jovian, were conspicuous in the right cause
and likewise Cyril of Jerusalem and other bishops who were cham-
pions of orthodoxy.’ Lucius was leader of the Arians in Alexandria
and Euzoios in Antioch, while of the orthodox, who were divided
into two groups, one was headed by Paulinus and the other by
Meletios. I \*

° Theod. Lect. 155 and 160 (62. 14 and 63. 18-23); cf. Theod. HE iv. 2-4, Sokr. iv. 1.

* Note the discrepancy between the narrative and chronological list of
patriarchs. In the chronological list Liberius ends his patriarchate in AM

Chionogia phia AM 5859

5844. Meletios became patriarch in AM 5865, Cyril in 5858. The conven-
tional dates (see Grumel) for their patriarchates are Liberius, 352-66;
Meletios, 360-81,* Cyril, 350 or 35r-86.

[AM 5859, AD 366/7]

Valentinian, 3rd year

Sabores, 65th year

Damasus, 15th year

Eudoxios, 8th year

Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (35 years), 1st year
Athanasios, 41st year

Eudoxios, bishop of Antioch (2 years), 1st year

In this year Prokopios led an uprising in Constantinople in the

* He set out for Nakoleia,* protected by a large

month of September.
army, which terrified Valens, who for a while gave up his war against
the churches until Prokopios had been betrayed by his own generals
Agelon and Gomaris. Valens had Prokopios tied by his limbs to two
trees which had been bent towards each other and then ordered that
the trees be released. The force of the trees springing upright tore the
usurper apart. Valens ordered that Agelon and Gomaris, the two gen-
erals who had betrayed Prokopios, be cut up with a saw, a fate suf-
fered by the poor wretches who had shown goodwill to a
dishonourable man.* At that time he also pulled down the walls of
Chalcedon from his fear of Prokopios. Having killed Prokopios he
returned to his attack on the truth. He then forced Eleusios of
Kyzikos to agree to the Difference in Substance. This Eleusios, after
he arrived in Kyzikos, announced his own transgression publicly and
said that he was unworthy to administer the sacraments and urged
that someone else be nominated as bishop of Kyzikos. When the
evil-thinking Eudoxios heard of this, he appointed Eunomios bishop
of Kyzikos in his place. 1174

In the same year the emperor Valens spent some time at
Markianoupolis in Mysia.*® In indiction 8° there was a great earth-
quake by night throughout the whole world, so that in Alexandria
ships moored to the shore were lifted high up over the top of tall
buildings and walls and were carried within [the city] into court-
yards and houses. When the water had receded, they remained on dry
land. The people fled from the city because of the earthquake but
when they saw the ships on dry land they went up to them to loot
their cargoes. But the returning water covered them all. Other sailors
related that they were sailing in the Adriatic at that hour when they

were caught up and suddenly their ship was sitting on the sea-bed;

AM5810 Chronographia

after a short time the water returned again and so they resumed their
voyage. u°

Theod. Lect. 162-4 (64- 3—15). (Theoph. adds epithets abusing the Arians), cf. Soz.
vi. 8, Sokr. iv. 3, 5, 8. > Cf. Sokr. iv. 3 (so Theoph.'s source is probably Theod.
Lect.), Chron. Pasch. 556 (year 365), Jerome, Chron. 244c (AD 366), Amm. Marc, xxvi
10. 15 (AD 365), V. Athan. 29 (PG 25: cciC-D), Ps.-Dion. Chron., AG 676 (AD 364/5),
Mich. Syr. i. 292, (Hypoth. Arian], 43.

* Prokopios was proclaimed emperor on 28 Sept. 365 and was executed in
May 366 [PLRE i. 743).

* Nakoleia (modern Seyitgazi) is between Dorylaion (modern Eski§ehir)
and Kotyaion |modern Kiitahya).

3 Agelon (Agilo) and Gomaris (Gomoarius) were pardoned according to
Amm. Marc., Zosimos, andPhilost., cf. PLRE i. 28-9, 397-8.

* Sokr. iv. 6, Soz. vi. 8, and Philost. ix. 13 say that the Kyzikenes retained
Eleusios as bishop despite the appointment of Eunomios.

> ie. Moesia.

° AM 5859 in fact corresponds to ind. 10, while ind. 8 ran from Sept. 364
to Aug. 365. Grumel dates this earthquake to 21 July 365, sensibly trusting
Theoph.'s (and Chron. Pasch.'s) indiction date in conjunction with Amm.
Marc, and Hydatius rather than Theoph.'s AM date.

[AM 5860, AD 367/8]

Valentinian, 4th year
Sabores, 66th year
Damasus, 16th year
Eudoxios, gth year
Cyril, 2nd year
Athanasios, 42nd year

Eudoxios, 2nd year

llIn this year Valentinian the elder, while his wife Severa, Gratian's
mother, was still living, illegally married Justina after Severa had
testified to her beauty. The children he had by her were Valentinian
the younger, whom the army proclaimed emperor after his father's
death, and three daughters, Justa, Grata, and Galla, whom
Theodosios the elder wed at his second marriage and by whom he
had Placidia. Arkadios and Honorius were Theodosios' children by
his first wife Placilla. Valentinian composed an illegal law that there
was no bar to anyone who wished having two wives at the same
time.ll*° The impious Valens had two daughters, Anastasia and
Carossa, in whose names he built two baths and the aqueduct which

even now is known as the Valentinianic.|1”!

11Some say that it was Valens' wife Domnica who persuaded him

Chronographia AM 5861

to become such a vehement Arian. Others relate that after he
became emperor, when he was baptized by Eudoxios, he confirmed
on oath at his baptism that his views were Arian and that he would
not accept the consubstantial,!I 1©° and thus the unholy pair launched
numberless persecutions against the orthodox. They* sent the
Armenian Eustathios, Silvanus of Tarsos, and Theophilos of
Kastabala to Liberius of Rome, promising through them that they
would accept the consubstantial. They handed to Liberius a written
document in support of the consubstantial, stating that they
shunned every heresy that was contrary to the Synod of Nicaea.
Liberius received them, admitted them to communion, and sent a
letter to those in the East testifying to their orthodoxy. 1°

While campaigning against the Goths, Valens wintered at

Markianoupolis. 1°

"Theod. Lect. 212 (74. 9-17) (Theoph. adds words ‘illegally’, ‘illegal'), cf. Sokr. iv.
31. > Theod. Lect. 166 (64. 19-21) (Theoph. adds 'impious'); cf. Sokr. iv. 9.
© Theod. Lect. 193 (71. 11-14); cf. Theod. HE iv. 12-13. 4 Theod. Lect. 167 (64.
22-9) (Theoph. adds the epithet 'unholy' to Valens and Eudoxios); cf. Soz. vi. 10.
© Cf. Mich. Syr. i. 292, Amm. Marc, xxvii. 5. 5-6 (368 and 369), [Hypoth. Arian], 44.

* Zos. v. 9. 3 supports this account, but Amm. Marc. xxvi. 6. 14 states
that the Anastasian baths were named after Constantine's sister. On Valens’
aqueduct, see K. O. Dalman, Dei Valens-Aquadukt in Konstantinopel
(Bamberg, 1933), Mango, Developpement, 56. An immensely elaborate sys-
tem, stretching almost to the present Bulgarian frontier, it became opera-
tional in 373 according to Jerome, Chion. Cf. AM 6068 and 6258.

* In Theopanes the subject of 'sent' appears to be 'the unholy pair’ Valens
and Eudoxios. In fact the subject is ‘the orthodox’, or rather the
Macedonians, as is clear in both Theod. Lect. and Soz. Theophanes has omit-
ted a reference in Theodore to Valens’ persecution of the Macedonians.

AM 5861 [AD 368/9]

Year of the divine Incarnation 361

Valentinian, emperor of the Romans (11 years), 5th year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (70 years), 67th year
Damasus, bishop of Rome (28 years), 17th year
Eudoxios, bishop of Constantinople (10 years), ioth year
Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (35 years), 3rd year
Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (46 years), 43rd year
Anianos, bishop of Antioch (4 years), 1st year

lllIn this year there was a synod at Tyana. Those present included

Eusebios of Caesarea in Cappadocia and Gregory of Nazianzos, the

AM 5861 Chronographia

father of the Theologian, Hotreios of Melitene, and others who,
rejoicing at Liberius' letter, announced to all orthodox bishops that
they should proceed to Tarsos to confirm the true faith. When
Valens heard this, he prevented the meeting. Eudoxios once again
impelled Valens to command the regional magistrates to banish all
the bishops who had been banished by Constantius and who had
been recalled by Julian and Jovian. Thereupon Athanasios voluntar-
ily left Alexandria since the people would not let the governor
banish him. He stayed hidden for a long time in the family tomb.
Later Valens, fearing an uprising in Alexandria, ordered Athanasios’
recall.

Eunomios seceded from communion with Eudoxios because
Eudoxios was not in communion with Aetios, Eunomios' teacher.’
For though they were both of the same persuasion, Eudoxios
shunned Aetios because he was universally hated, and clearly did
not shun him in shame because his beliefs were sacrilegious. For
Eunomios, who had been the godless Aetios'’ secretary, had been
trained in sophistic studies, as a result of which he used to boast, it
would seem, that he was completely unacquainted with the Holy
Scriptures, as his seven volumes make very clear. The people of
Kyzikos had expelled Eunomios for being a heretic and a blasphemer
and he had then come and united with Eudoxios. Indeed, he was
extremely blasphemous, even having the effrontery to say that God
knew no more than we do about His own essence. Worse things hap-
pened to the orthodox during the period of the impious Valens and
Eudoxios than during the pagan persecution.

In this period, after Eudoxios' death, the Arians elected
Demophilos as bishop, while the orthodox chose a certain Evagrios
who was ordained by the holy Eustathios of Antioch who was living
secretly in Constantinople after returning from banishment under
Jovian.* When he heard that Jovian was dead, he remained in hiding
in the city. When Valens, who was staying in Markianoupolis, heard
of the ordination of Evagrios, he banished the holy Eustathios to
Bizye,* expelled Evagrios from the city, and handed over the

churches to the Arian Demophilos.il’?

Theod. Lect. 169-74 (65. 4-66. 14); cf. Soz. vi. 12-13, Sokr. iv. 7, 13, 14.

Eunomios, who was an Anomoean (supporters of a doctrine similar to
Arianism), wrote his Apologetikos (c.360), which was answered by Basil,
and a rejoinder to Basil in three books (0.378), two further books on the same
controversy, a commentary on Romans, letters, and another treatise.

* Theophanes, ultimately following Sokr. iv. 14 and Soz. vi. 13, represents
Eustathios as being still alive, but Theod. HE iii. 2, states that Eustathios

Chionographia AM 5863

was dead when Meletios was elected in 360 (Theophanes admittedly dates
Meletios' election to AM 5865 = AD 372/3), nor is he mentioned after being
exiled by Constantine to Trajanopolis in Thrace (Euseb. VC iii. 39, Jerome,
De Viris) where his tomb was, though Theophanes (AM 5981) and Vict.
Tonn., a.490. 2, say his relics were brought back to Antioch from Philippi.

3 The modem Vize in Thrace. On its Byzantine monuments see S.
Ioannides, OpaxiKa, 22 (1957).

[AM 5862, AD 369/70]

Valentinian, 6th year

Sabores, 68th year

Damasus, 18th year

Demophilos, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 1st year
Cyril, 4th year

Athanasios, 44th year

Anianos, 2nd year

lllIn this year, when the impious Valens came to Nicomedia, the
orthodox sent an embassy to him of eighty priestly men, led by
Theodoros, Urbanus,' and Menedemos. Valens ordered that they all
be set on fire along with their ship.* And so they were all burned,

together with the ship, which held out as far as Dakidiza.1l'*?

" Theod. Lect. 175 (66. 15-19); cf. Soz. vi. 14, Sokr. iv. 15-16.

* Interestingly Theophanes correctly reads Urbanus as against Urbasus,
the reading preserved in Theod. Lect.

* The orders were executed by Modestus, praetorian prefect of the East
369-77. The date was 370 (Jerome, Chion. Cf. PLRE i. 607).

3 Dakidiza, wrongly for Dakibyza, in Bithynia on the road from
Chalcedon to Nicomedia, is the modern Gebze, near the north coast of the
bay of Astakos.

AM 5863 [AD 370/L]

[Year of the divine Incarnation] 363
Valentinian, 7th year

Sabores, 69th year

Damasus, 19th year

Demophilos, 2nd year

Cyril, 5th year

Athanasios, 45th year

Anianos, 3rd year

AM 5861 Chronographia

lllIn this year the accursed Valens granted immunity to the pagans to
hold their sacrifices and festivals.’ Likewise he cherished and hon-
oured the Jews, persecuting terribly the orthodox alone and the apos-
tolic Church.1I\*

"Theod. Lect. 180 (67. 22-4] (Theoph. adds the epithet 'accursed'); cf. Theod. HE
iv. 24.

* In fact Valens cracked down on paganism in 371-2, with executions,
confiscations, and a prohibition of blood sacrifices, his aim being to prevent
divination. See Stein, BE i. 177.

[AM 5864, AD 371/2]

Valentinian, 8th year
Sabores, 7oth year
Damasus, 2oth year
Demophilos, 3rd year
Cyril, 6th year
Athanasios, 46th year

Anianos, 4th year

Illn this year Valens, after coming to Antioch in Syria gave a display
of outrageous acts against the orthodox, killing many by the sword
and drowning others in the Orontes river which flows by. Likewise,
after reaching Edessa, he carried out even worse deeds, ordering the
prefect Modestus to arrest the crowd of the orthodox who were
assembled in the shrine of St Thomas and slaughter them. The case
of a woman, who happened to be dragging her child hastily to death,
put, however, Valens to shame and shocked the prefect and so pre-
vented the crime, this being obviously due to God's dispensation.
Valens banished Eusebios of Samosata to Thrace. When the people
would not allow this, the holy man amazed them the more by leav-
ing the city voluntarily and going along with those who were
expelling him. In his place the Arians elected a certain Eunomios, an
ardent Arian, with whom no one at Samosata had communion.
When he was bathing and encouraging the populace to bathe with
him, they refused to bathe unless they first emptied the water from
the pool which Eunomios had entered and filled it with new water,
since they said that the original water had been defiled by Eunomios.
When he learned this he fled from the city, implacably hated. After
he had left, the Arians appointed a certain Lucius, who was truly
lupine.I1*! Likewise Valens was eager to hand the churches in

Cappadocia over to the Arians, having come to grips with the oppo-

Chronographia AM 5865

sition he had faced from Basil the Great who was then presbyter of
the church of Caesareall? and was arousing bishop Eusebios to

defend orthodoxy and not to yield to the impiety of Valens.II°

* Theod. Lect. 177-79 (66- 24-67- 18); cf. Sokr. iv. 17, Theod. HE iv. 13-15, 17, Soz.
vi. 18, Ruf. HE ii. 5. > Theod. Lect. 176 (66. 20-3); cf. Soz. vi. 15. © Cf.
Soz. vi. 15.

' a play on the name aovuo; and the word auxos, a wolf.

[AM 5865, AD 372/3]

Valentinian, gth year

Artaxer, emperor of the Persians (4 years), 1st year’
Damasus, 21st year

Demophilos, 4th year

Cyril, 7th year

Peter, bishop of Alexandria (1 year), 1st year

Meletios, again, 31st bishop of Antioch (25 years), 1st year

Illn this year, while Valens was in Antioch, some people were found
to be preparing a plot against him and a crowd of impious people
were put to death. For they were carrying out their plot by means of
divination and sacrifices.|1*

uThe much-enduring and hard-toiling Athanasios departed to the
Lord,* having been bishop for forty-six years, forty of them under
persecution and in peril on behalf of piety. Peter succeeded him as
bishop, but the Arians drove him out through a certain Magnus,
steward of the imperial treasures, and appointed Lucius in his place.
Then many orthodox men, women, and virgins were maltreated in
an ungodly way and many died under torture. Peter fled to Damasus
in Rome as to one who shared his views. At that time he wrote ina
letter about the frightful acts of the Arians in Alexandria.u

Illn the same year also Basil became bishop of Caesarea after the

death of the pious Eusebios.! 1°

"Cf. Amm. Marc. xxix. 1. 4-2. 28, Zos. iv. 13-15, [Hypoth. Arian] 45.
» Theod. Lect. 183-4 (68 9-19); cf. Soz. vi. 19, Theod. iv. 21-2. © Cf. Jerome,
Chron. 248E (AD 376].

" Ardashir II (Artaxerxes) ruled from 379 to 383 in succession to Shapur,
who died in 379. Theophanes makes both this year and AM 5866 his first
year.

* Athanasios died on 2 May 373.

AM 5931 Chronographia

AM 5866 [AD 373/4]

Year of the divine Incarnation 366

Valentinian, emperor of the Romans (11 years), 10th year
Artaxer, emperor of the Persians (4 years), 1st year’
Damasus, bishop of Rome (28 years), 22nd year
Demophilos, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 4th year
Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (35 years), 8th year

Lucius, bishop of Alexandria (6 years), 1st year

Meletios, bishop of Antioch (25 years), 2nd year

IlIn this year Ambrose became leader of the church of Milan in suc-
cession to Auxentios inJl*%allojvingjnanner. As ,-he people riotetf
over the appointment of a bishop, Ambrose, who was governor of the
region,” was sent by the emperor Valentinian, who was residing
there, to put an end to the disturbance. Ambrose was still not bap-
tized but showed great concern for justice, and bravely reprimanded
the more important officials who were doing wrong. And so the
people, after ending their strife, voted unanimously for Ambrose to
be bishop. When Valentinian heard this, he ordered that Ambrose be
baptized and ordained bishop, giving thanks to God in the sight of all
and saying, ‘Thanks be to Thee, all powerful Lord, our Saviour, that
Thou hast entrusted the souls of men to this man whom I had
appointed as ruler of their bodies, and that Thou hast vindicated my
decrees.’ I\*

11Lucius along with the Arians did much wrong in Alexandria. For
they used to sing the songs of demons in the church of Theonas and
brought in dancers, and taking off the virgins’ clothing and snorting
angrily through the nose, took them round the city naked, treating
them lewdly. Some of the virgins they killed and did not even
give the bodies for burial to the sadly grieving parents. They even
brought in a lewd youth to perform obscenities within the altar
precincts.il?

11.With the whole of the West supporting the consubstantiality of
the Trinity, 11° they made a request to Valentinian to hold a synod in
Illyricum where they confirmed the faith of Nicaea.? Valentinian
wrote an edict to the bishops of Asia, Phrygia, and all the East
exhorting them to observe the definitions made at the synod, and
including his brother Valens and his son Gratian as partners in the
edict.11° Then Gregory the Theologian became leader of the church
at Constantinople at the instigation of Basil and Meletios and the
other champions of piety. And if he had not recalled the city from
error just in time, it would have been entirely filled with the taint of

Arius and Eunomios, for they had gained control of all the churches

Chronographia AM 5867

apart from the chapel of the martyr Anastasia.‘ Demophilos was
bishop of the Arians.

At that time Gregory of Nyssa and Peter, the brothers of Basil,
were eminent, as were Optimus in Pisidia and Amphilochios in
Ikonion. Valens banished Barses, bishop of Edessa, and Pelagios of
Laodikeia for being champions of orthodoxy. Valentinian reproached
his brother Valens for his false beliefs, and did not send him the sup-
port he requested against the Goths, but said, 'It is not right to come
to the aid of one who fights against God.'ll®

" Theod. Lect. 189 (70. 8-16); cf. Sokr. iv. 30, Theod. HE iv. 7, Soz. vi. 24.
> Theod. Lect. 184 (68. 19-69. 1); cf. Theod. HE iv. 22. © Theod. Lect. 188 (70.
5-6); cf. Soz. vi. 23. 4 Theod. Lect. 190 (70. 19-23); cf. Theod. HE iv. 7.
© Theod. Lect. 203, 205-7 (73- !-4/ 8-14). Theophanes adds ‘at the instigation of Basil
and Meletios'; cf. Sokr. iv. 7, v. 7, Soz. vi. 17, Theod. HE iv. 13, 16, 30, 31.

See above, AM 5865, n. 1 on Theophanes'’ error of assigning two first
years to Ardasir.

* The date is correct. Ambrose had been consularis Aemiliae et Liguiiae
Dec. 373 to 7 Dec. 374.

3 July 378 (Stein, BE i. 508).

* Gregory Nazianzen did not come to Constantinople till 379. He was
leader inasmuch as his preaching at the church of the Anastasis was influ-
ential in restoring the Nicene faith. He did not become bishop of
Constantinople till the synod of 381. Cf. AM 5876c. The opposition to
Gregory was technically on the grounds that it was contrary to the canon of
Nicaea, which forbade transfer from one see to another. See Stein, BE i. 198,
following Bardy in Fliche-Martin, iii (1936), 282 ff.

[AM 5867, AD 374/5]

Valentinian, nthyear
Artaxer, 2nd year
Damasus, 23rd year
Demophilos, 5th year
Cyril, 9th year
Lucius, 2nd year

Meletios, 3rd year

I lln this year Valentinian the elder, having been emperor for eleven
years, died at the age of 84,' in the following manner. The
Sauromatai,*® a small and pitiable tribe, after revolting against him
and being defeated, sent envoys to him to seek peace. When
Valentinian asked the envoys whether all Sauromatai had such a

pitiable physique as they did, they replied that 'The strongest of us

AM 5931 Chronographia

all are the ones you see before you.’ He then shouted out violently,
‘The Roman Empire is in terrible trouble now it has ended up with
Valentinian if Sauromatai such as these are revolting against the
Romans.’ From the extension of his arms and from the clapping of
his hands he burst a vein and lost a great deal of blood and so died in
some fort in Gaull\*? on the 17th of the month Dios in the 3rd indic-
tion. 1°* Since his son Gratian was not there and Valens was residing
in Antioch, the army that happened to be at the place where
Valentinian the elder died proclaimed his 4-year-old son Valentinian
Augustus, his mother Justina being also present in Pannonia. When
Gratian heard this, he accepted his brother as joint emperor with
him, but punished those who had proclaimed him in various ways
since this had taken place without his consent.II*

uuValens sent the general Trajan against the Goths. He was
defeated and returned in dishonour. Rebuked by Valens for cow-
ardice, he replied, 'It is not | who am defeated, Emperor, but you who
campaign against God and have secured His divine aid for the bar-
barians.’ Valens put to death many people whose name began with
the letter ‘theta’, whom as a result of divination he suspected of
being destined to reign. Among these was a certain Theodore, first
among the patricians.1 1**

Illn the same period some of the Novatians in Phrygia, who had
gathered at a village called Pazos, began to celebrate Easter with
the Jews and they published a law that they would have Easter
with the Jews. It is from them that the Sabbatians, named after a
certain Sabbatios, later developed.® It was then also that the
Syrian Apolinarios’ openly separated from the Church. Damasus
of Rome and Peter of Alexandria were the first to condemn them.
The impious Eunomios® dared to carry out baptism in a single
immersion, saying 'One ought to be baptized not in the Trinity
but in the death of Christ'; and he would re-baptize those who had
been baptized in the Trinity.I1* Julian, surnamed Sabas,° a holy
ascetic, after coming to Antioch from Edessa sustained the ortho-
dox, who paid honour to the consubstantial, by openly anathema-
tizing the Arians. In Antioch the holy Aphraates'® with great
boldness charged Valens with impiety to his face. One of the
eunuchs, who had come down to get the emperor's bath ready,
after insolently abusing and threatening Aphraates, went out of
his mind, threw himself into the hot water and perished.IK"' The

** outstanding for his asceticism and holy teaching,

great Ephraim,
poured forth through the Holy Ghost many ascetic tracts, and
even more doctrinal ones. He gave some of his works to be sung

by the Syrians so as to entice the more sluggish through the

Chronographia AM 5867

music. At any rate it is said that he, being truly full of divine wis-
dom, published three million lines. 110"

a Theod. Lect. 210(73. 23-74. 6]. Theophanes has expanded the rhetoric, introduced
direct speech and changedfigures,-cf. Soz. vi. 36. > Cf. Sokr. iv. 31, Amm. Marc,
xxx. 5.15, [Hypoth. Arian] 46. © Cf. Theod. Lect. 211 (74. 7-8), Soz. vi. 36, Mich.
Syr. i. 293-4, [Hypoth. Arian] 46. 4 Theod. Lect. 208-9 [73- 15-22]; cf. Theod.
HE iv. 33, Soz. vi. 35. e Theod. Lect. 194-6 (71. 15-72. 2) (Theophanes adds
‘impious’ to Eunomios); cf. Soz. vi. 24-6. f Theod. Lect. 181-2 (68. 1-8); cf.
Theod. HE iv. 26-7. « Theod. Lect. 75 (37. 21-3); cf. Soz. iii. 16.

* Valentinian in fact died at the age of 54m 375 (he was born in 32r,
Amm. Marc. xxx. 6. 6), see PLRE i. 933.

* i.e. the Quadi. See Amm. Marc. xxx. 6.

3 Actually at Bregitio (modern Szony, near Komarom, in Hungary).

* 3rd indiction is 374/5, so Theophanes is out by one indiction as
Valentinian died in Nov. (Dios in the Antiochene system).

> On Theodore, see PLRE i. 898, Theodorus r3.

° Novatians were rigorously orthodox but their vigorous opposition to
those who had compromised with paganism in the Decian persecution
(249-50) had led to their schism and excommunication. According to Sokr.
v. 21, Sabbatios had been a Jewish convert to Novatianism, who separated
during Valens' reign.

7 Cf. AM 5854 for the Apollinarii under Julian. This is the son who had
become bishop of Laodikeia about 360. His Christological teaching was con-
demned by synods at Rome 374-80. He appears to have argued inter alia that
Christ, while possessing perfect Godhead, lacked complete manhood.

8 Eunomios was Arian bishop of Kyzikos from c.360 (cf. AM 5859). He
was an Anomean (cf. AM 5861, n.i).

° St Julian Sabas (c.300-77 or 380), lived in a cave in the desert of
Osrhoene between Antioch and the Euphrates (Theod. HR 2), but came to
Antioch to refute Arian claims that he supported them.

‘© Presumably the same Aphraates who was the first of the Syriac Church
Fathers who lived in Persia through the persecutions of Shapur II (310-79)
and whose surviving writings-can be dated to between 337 and 345. See A.
Voobus, JAC 3 (1960), 152-5.

" Theophanes reverses the order of Theod. Lect. and Theod., giving the
story of Julian first, omitting their account of Antony, and making Valens'
attendant a eunuch.

* Ephraim (c.306-73), after the cession of Nisibis to Persia in 363, had
settled in Edessa, where most of his extant works were written.

8 Soz. and Theod. Lect. have 300,000 lines.

AM 5868 [AD 375/6]

Year of the divine Incarnation 368
Valens, emperor of the Romans (3 years), 1st year

AM 5861 Chronographia

Artaxer, emperor of the Persians (4 years), 3rd year
Damasus, bishop of Rome (28 years), 24th year
Demophilos, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 6th year
Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (35 years), 10th year

Lucius, bishop of Alexandria (6 years), 3rd year

Meletios, bishop of Antioch (25 years), 4th year

I lIn this year the heresy of the Messalians, that is of the Euchites and
Enthusiasts, sprouted up. They dance and rattle castanets while
singing psalms because of their crude and stupid interpretation of
David's words.’ The leaders of this heresy were Dadoes, Sabas,
Adelphios, and, according to some, Eustathios of Sebasteia. They
were nobly resisted by Amphilochios of Ikonion, Letoios of
Melitene, and later by Flavian of Antioch. u®

11Valens, having destroyed every church, came to Caesarea from
the East, raging against the holy Basil. He did those deeds which
Gregory the Great related in the Funeral Oration on Basil. It was at
that time that Valens’ son Galates died after a severe illness* and his
wife Domnica fell seriously ill. When Demosthenes, one of Valens'
cooks, had come upon the holy Basil in conversation with the
emperor, and had spoken like a barbarian, the teacher smiled a little
and said to him, ‘Well, we see that even Demosthenes is unlettered.'
Valens, in awe of Basil, granted him numerous fine estates for the
lepers he cared for. Seeing how firm and unswerving Basil was he
decided to banish him, but when he wanted to sign the letter of ban-
ishment, he was unable to do so: he broke three pens and finally

even his hand was paralysed. \°

"Theod. Lect. 19a (71. 5-9); cf. Theod. HE iv. 11. > Theod. Lect. 199-202
(72. 12-24),- cf. Theod. HE iv. 19, Soz. vi. 16.

* With reference to Ps. r50. This description is not taken from either
Theod. Lect. or his source Theod. HE iv. 11, and appears to have been
inserted by Theophanes from an unknown source. The Messalians (from the
Syriac for ‘praying people’, hence their Greek name as Euchites), were a
mendicant sect who aimed at continuous prayer which, by removing all pas-
sion, would expel the demon present in men's souls.

Galates probably died in about 370 (see PLRE i. 381).

[AM 5869, AD 376/7]

Valens, 2nd year
Artaxer, 4th year

Damasus, 25th year

Chronographia AM 5867

Demophilos, 7th year
Cyril, nth year
Lucius, 4th year
Meletios, 5th year

lllIn this year Mauia, queen of the Saracens, who had done much
harm to the Romans, sought peace and asked that a certain Moses,
one of the desert ascetics, be made bishop for those of her Saracens
who practised Christianity. When the emperor accepted this eagerly,
Moses insisted that he be ordained not by the Arian Lucius, but by
one of the orthodox who were in exile. This was done. Mauia took
him and made many Christians among the Saracens. They say that
she herself was a Christian and a Roman by race, and that after she
had been taken prisoner, she pleased the emperor of the Saracens by
her beauty, and so she gained control of the empire. Sozomen relates
many things about this race, its origins and name and that they are
circumcised at the age of 13.11"

1iThe Goths, after the Huns had made war on them, sought help
from Valens through Euphilas,' their Arian-minded bishop, who had
earlier been an associate of the Arians Eudoxios and Akakios in the
time, of Constantius. It was he who taught the Goths to be Arians.
The Goths were divided into two. Athanarich led one group,
Fritigern the other; the latter was defeated but, after receiving
help from Valens, defeated the supporters of Athanarich. In order
to please Valens he taught the Goths to become Arian all the

more.11'°

" Theod. Lect. 185 (69. 6-17); cf. Soz. vi. 38. > Theod. Lect. 213 (74. 18-75.
3); cf. Soz. vi. 37, Sokr. iv. 33.

Euphilas, better kown as Ufilas or Ulphilas, was the first translator of
the Bible into Gothic, on whom see J. F. Matthews and P. J. Heather, The
Goths in the Fourth Century, TTH (Liverpool, 1991), ch. 5.

AM $870 [AD 377/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 370

Valens, emperor of the Romans (3 years), 3rd year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (5 years), 1st year’
Damasus, bishop of Rome (28 years), 26th year
Demophilos, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 8th year
Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (35 years), 12th year

Lucius, bishop of Alexandria (6 years), 5th year

Meletios, bishop of Antioch (25 years), 6th year

AM 5870 Chronographia

11In this year the Goths, united again, 11* invaded Roman territory and
devastated numerous _ provinces, Scythia, Mysia,” Thrace,
Macedonia, Achaea, and all of Greece, about twenty provinces in all.
In this period clouds in the shape of armed men were seen in the sky,
and in Antioch a child was born, complete in its other parts, but hav-
ing one eye in the middle of the forehead, four arms, four legs, anda
beard. When Valens, who was residing in Antioch, heard about the
Goths, he went to Constantinople.!I? The Byzantines insulted him
for being a coward who shunned war. Isaakios, the holy monk,
grabbed hold of the bit of Valens’ horse when he finally set out for
war against the Goths and said to him, ‘Where are you going,
Emperor, you who are marching against God and have God as your
opponent?’ In fury the emperor had him imprisoned and threatened
him with death if he ever returned, as Ahab? once threatened
Micah. II*

After his departure, some of his household acknowledged that on
his command divination was carried out concerning his proposed
rush into war. 11When battle was joined with the Goths, Valens was
defeated and fled with a few others to a hut.* The barbarians over-
took him, set fire to the house and in ignorance incinerated all those
inside.I\? They say that the holy Isaakios, while in prison, became
aware of the foul smell of Valens’ being burned, and, by the grace of
God and the pureness of his soul, foretold his death to those who
were with him before the messengers from the war arrived to
announce what had happened.

1After the defeat and death of Valens by fire, the Goths, exulting
in their victory, began to ravage terribly the suburbs of
Constantinople. But Mauia, queen of the Saracens, sent a Saracen
army, and Valens' wife Domnica, leading out the people from the
city, chased off the barbarians. II*

When the Augustus Gratian learned how matters stood he
marched down to Pannonia so as to offer assistance and, in the place
of Valens, invested Theodosios as Augustus,*> proclaimed him
emperor, and sent him to make war on the Goths. The patrician
Trajan® states in his History that the Scythians are called Goths in
the local dialect.

11Dorotheos, numbered among the holy, was martyred under the
impious Valens having been thrown by the Arians to the wild beasts

in the Kynegion’ at Alexandria.114*

"Theod. Lect. 216 (75. 8); cf. Soz. vi. 39-40, Sokr. iv. 38, Theod. HE iv. 34.
> Cf. Mich. Syr. i. 294, [Hypoth. Arian] 47. © Theod. Lect. 216 [75. 8-13); cf.
Soz. vi. 40, Jac. Edess. 224. 4 Theod. Lect. 217 (75. 14-16); cf. Soz. vi. 40, Mich.

10O

Chionogiaphia AM 5871

Syr. i. 294, (Hypoth. Arian] 48. © Theod. Lect. 219 (75. 21-4); cf. Soz. vii. 1.
f Cf. Exceipta Latina Barbaii, 616, p. 238, 4-7, Nik. Chron. 97(B).

Shapur III (Sabores) ruled from 383 to 388.

ie. Moesia.

3 Cf. 1 Kgs. 22: 1-35, 2 Chr. 18.

* At Adrianople, 9 Aug. 378.

> Theodosios was proclaimed on 19 Jan. 379 (PLRE i. 905).

® For Trajan see Introduction, Sources IV, 20 (i).

i.e. amphitheatre.

Dorotheos may be a doublet for the Dorotheos allegedly killed by Julian,
cf. AM 5816, 5854. The Alexandrian reference and the parallel in the
Exceipta Barbaii, which is linked with an Alexandrian chronicle, shows
that this will have come from Theophanes' Alexandrian source.

AM 5871 [AD 378/9]

Year of the divine Incarnation 371

Theodosios, emperor of the Romans (16 years), 1st year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (5 years), and year
Damasus, bishop of Rome (28 years), 27th year
Demophilos, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 9th year
Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (35 years), 13th year

Lucius, bishop of Alexandria (6 years), 6th year

Meletios, bishop of Antioch (25 years), 7th year

Illn this year the emperor Gratian took Theodosios as partner in the
Empire. He was a western Iberian by race, of noble birth and
admirably capable in war. Being pious and orthodox,’ he immedi-
ately won a victory by force of arms over the barbarians in Thrace. I\*

11Gratian and Valentinian introduced a law recalling the bishops
in exile and expelled the Arians, with the help of Damasus, the Pope
of Rome.I\> Then Peter, bishop of Alexandria, returned and after dri-
ving out Lucius, regained his own throne,I 1° but died a short time
thereafter. His brother Timothy was ordained in his place as bishop
of the Church of the orthodox in Alexandria. 11? At Antioch in Syria,
where the orthodox were split in two following the events sur-
rounding the holy Eustathios, one group had Paulinus as their
bishop, the other had the holy Meletios after the promotion of
Euzoios, the bishop of the Arians in Antioch who had seceded from
them. The emperors introduced a law in favour of the orthodox and
entrusted a certain general Sapor to convey it to the East. When he
arrived in Antioch, he found that there was strife between Paulinus,
who was laying claim to the bishop's office, and Apolinarios, who

was also making a bid for the throne, while the holy Meletios was

101

AM 5931 Chronographia

keeping his peace and avoiding conflict. Flavian, a presbyter at the
time, being opposed to Paulinus and putting Apolinarios to shame,
recommended that the general Sapor hand over the throne to
Meletios; after establishing the latter he departed. Then the great
Meletios ordained Diodoros bishop of Tarsos.

Eusebios, bishop of Samosata, after returning from banishment,
ordained many bishops in various cities. He went to Doliche’ to
ordain Maris as bishop, but as he entered the city, he was killed by
an Arian woman who, from high up, threw a tile at the holy man's
sacred head, this being allowed by God's inscrutable judgement;
concerning which Gregory the Theologian says, 'I seek for myself
your sacrifice of yesterday, the old man descended from Abraham'.*
At that time Gregory the Theologian was teaching with great bold-
ness in Constantinople at the chapel of St Anastasia, where, they
say, marvellous miracles occurred through the manifestation of our
all-holy lady, the Mother of God.ll*

" Theod. Lect. 225 (76. 26-8); cf. Sokr. v. 2, Soz. vii. 2, Theod. HE v. 5.

> Theod. Lect. 220 (76. 1-4]; cf. Theod. HEv. 2, Sokr. v. 2. © Theod. Lect. 215
(75. 6-7); cf. Soz. vi. 39, Sokr. iv. 37. 4 Theod. Lect. 218 (75. 17-19); cf. Sokr. iv.
37. 8 Theod. Lect. 221-8 (76. 5-77. 13); ef. Theod. HE v. 2-6, Sokr. v. 2-6, Soz.

vii. 2-4. Note that Theod. Lect. 222 is restored entirely from Theophanes.

* 'Admirably capable in war' and ‘being pious and orthodox’ are
Theophanes' additions to his source; thus he defines Theodosios' capabili-
ties and explains his victories in terms of piety and correct belief.

* Near modern Dulukbaba, about 48 km. south-west of Samosata.

3 Greg. Naz. Or. 33.5.

[AM 5872, AD 379/80]

Theodosios, 2nd year

Sabores, 3rd year

Damasus, 28th year

Demophilos, 10th year

Cyril, 14th year

Timothy, bishop of Alexandria (8 years), 1st year
Meletios, 8th year

[AM 5873, AD 380/L]

Theodosios, 3rd year
Sabores, 4th year

Siricius, bishop of Rome (15 years), istyear’

102

Chronographia AM 5874

Demophilos, nth year
Cyril, 15th year
Timothy, 2nd year
Meletios, gth year

Siricius was pope from 15 or 22 or 29 Dec. 384 to 26. Nov. 399.

AM 5874 [AD 381/2]

Year of the divine Incarnation 374

Theodosios, emperor of the Romans (16 years), 4th year
Sabores, emperor of the Persians (5 years), 5th year

Siricius, bishop of Rome (15 years), 2nd year

Demophilos, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 12th year
Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (35 years), 16th year

Timothy, bishop of Alexandria (8 years), 3rd year

Meletios, bishop of Antioch (25 years), 10th year

llIn this year the emperor Gratian was killed by the deceit of
Andragathios, the general of the usurper Maximus.’ For this man
arrived in a carriage pretending to be Gratian's wife. Thus
Andragathios was able to meet Gratian when he was unprotected
and killed him.u° On his death Valentinian gained control of the
Roman Empire.

IIAt the same time Theodosios the elder, after falling ill, was bap-
tizedin Thessalonica by bishop Acholios. He wrote alaw on the con-
substantial in support of the orthodox, which he dispatched to
Constantinople. After arriving in Constantinople Theodosios made
it clear to Demophilos that he must either abandon the error of
Arius or leave the churches with all speed. Demophilos collected the
throng of the Arians and held church services outside the city, being
also accompanied by Lucius, the Arian bishop of Alexandria. And
thus at last the holy Gregory, with those whom he himself had bap-
tized into the orthodox faith, received back all the churches, which

the Arians had held for rather more than forty years. 11°

* Theod. Lect. 244 (80. 3-6); cf. Soz. vii. 13. > Theod. Lect. 227, 229 (77. 4-7,
14-20); cf. Soz. vii. 4-7, Sokr. v. 6-7.

* 25 Aug. 383 {PLRE i. 401). Interestingly Theophanes has the correct
account of Gratian's death as against the anti-Arian version preserved in
Chron. Pasch. 562. 1-7 and the original Mai. (cf. 344. 5-8). Since
Theophanes would probably ha ve exploited such a story had he known of it,
he presumably did not read Mai. for this period or have access to Chron.
Pasch.

103

AM5931 Chronographia

[AM 5875, AD 382/3]

Theodosios, 5th year

Vararanes, 12th emperor of the Persians (11 years), 1st year’
Siricius, 3rd year

Gregory the Theologian, bishop of Constantinople (2 years), 1st year
Cyril, 17th year

Timothy, 4th year

Meletios, nth year

In this year in Antioch, in the district of the Iobitai (as it is called) a
woman gave birth to male quadruplets. They survived for two

months, and then, one by one, all four died.

Vahram III ruled from 388 to 399.

[AM 5876, AD 383/4]

Theodosios, 6th year
Vararanes, 2nd year
Siricius, 4th year
Gregory, 2nd year
Cyril, i8thyear
Timothy, 5th year
Meletios, 12th year

1iIn this year’ the Second great and holy ecumenical Synod of the 150
orthodox bishops was gathered in Constantinople by Theodosios the
elder to confirm the tenets of Nicaea. It even summoned the 36 bish-
ops of the heresy of Makedonios who were led by Eleusios. The lead-
ers of the 150 holy fathers were Timothy of Alexandria, the most
sacred Meletios of Antioch,* the most sacred Cyril of Jerusalem,!\*
and the holy Gregory of Constantinople. 11The 36 bishops who fol-
lowed the views of Makedonios were urged by the fathers to accept
the tenets of Nicaea, just as the supporters of Silvanus, who had been
sent to Rome in the time of Valens, had agreed to give statements to
Liberius. But they refused to agree to the truth and left, being a
laughing-stock to all, believing one thing and agreeing to another, I\°
while fraudulently introducing Liberius' letters as evidence of their
orthodoxy.’

1iThe holy synod ratified the see of Constantinople for Gregory the
Theologian, and installed him, despite his reluctance, on his throne
inasmuch as he had toiled greatly and had freed the city from the dis-

ease of the heresies.* But when Gregory, wise inall matters and most

104

Chronographia AM 5867

blessed, learned that some of the Egyptians begrudged this action, he
made a valedictory speech and voluntarily withdrew from the
throne of the capital. After he had renounced it, the emperor and the
synod appointed Nektarios, a native of Tarsos who held at the time
the office of praetor and happened not to be yet baptized, but was liv-
ing a worthy and devout life. The holy ecumenical synod ratified the
consubstantial and added the doctrine of the Spirit to the creed. It
also published canons in which it assigned the privileges of New
Rome to the see of Constantinople.il®®

1.Gregory of Nyssa, Pelagios of Laodikeia, Eulogios of Edessa, and
Amphilochios of Ikonion acted with distinction at this synod
together with Gregory the Great and those previously mentioned.

The holy synod anathematized Arius and Eusebios of Nicomedia,
Euzoios and Akakios, Theognis and Euphronios and the others, and
in addition to these it condemned Makedonios, the enemy of the
Spirit, Eudoxios, Aetios, and Eunomios.u‘% After the completion of
the synod the great Meletios died in peace in Constantinople. His
holy body was conveyed to Antioch and placed near the tomb of the
holy martyr Babylas. Flavian was ordained bishop of Antioch while
Paulinus was still alive, even though oaths had been given that
Flavian would not receive episcopal ordination. And so disorder pre-
vailed again in the Church of Antioch, with some obeying Paulinus
and others Flavian.

At that time the emperor brought the body of Paul the confessor
to Constantinople and placed it in the church which Makedonios

had built while plotting against Paul. u®

* Theod. Lect. 231 (77. 26, 78. 3); cf. Soz. vii. 7. > Theod. Lect. 232 (78. 5-9);
cf. Soz. vii. 7. © Theod. Lect. 233-5 (78. 10-23); cf- Soz. vii. 6, 8, 9, Theod. HE
v. 8, Sokr. v. 8. “ Cf. Theod. HE v. 8, Jac. Edess., year 225, Mich. Syr. i. 322.

HL:

In 381 (not 383/4 as here).

* Meletios presided over the synod but died during its course.

3 This appears to be Theophanes'’ own comment. He has also substituted
‘being a laughing-stock' for Theod. Lect.'s 'were hated’.

* Gregory, summoned to Constantinople from Isauria in 379, had
through his preaching in the church of the Anastasis done much to restore
the Nicene faith. Cf. AM 5 866, n. 4.

> The synod gave Constantinople precedence in honour over all churches
except Rome and elevated its bishop to patriarch.

105

AM5931 Chronographia

[AM 5877, AD 384/5]

Theodosios, 7th year

Vararanes, 3rd year

Siricius, 5th year

Nektarios, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 1st year
Cyril, 19 thyear

Timothy, 6th year

Meletios, 13th year

IlIn this year the Augustus Theodosios proclaimed Honorius, his son
by the most pious Placilla,’ as consul [with the title] epiphanes-
tatos? He made preparations for war against the usurper
Maximus. 11* While he was fighting him in the West,’ a false rumour
was spread that Maximus had won, whereupon the Arians went on
a rampage and set fire to the house of Nektarios, the bishop of
Constantinople. 1

° Cf. Theod. Lect. 245 (80. 9-10); cf. Sokr. v. 12, Soz. vii. 14. > Theod. Lect.
247 (80. 13-15); cf. Soz. vii. 14, Sokr. v. 13.

* Placilla is Flacilla {PLRE i. 34).

* Neither de Boor nor Hansen cite Theod. Lect. as a source for
Theophanes here, but Theod. Lect. contains the same information except
the references to consul and title. Honorius was consul for 386, and the title
(most notable) is confirmed by inscriptions in both Greek (i-niAaveaTaros)
and Latin (nobilissimus).

3 Theodosios departed from Thessalonica in June 388 and defeated
Maximus at Aquileia on 28 Aug. 388.

[AM 5878, AD 385/6]
Theodosios, 8th year
Vararanes, 4th year
Siricius, 6th year
Nektarios, 2nd year
Cyril, 20th year
Timothy, 7th year
Meletios, 14th year

In this year in Antioch an extension was made to the so-called
Taurian gate to the full width of the bridge and was covered with a
roof. A small basilica was also built at the old Basilica, near the
great one.IK In the village of Emmaus in Palestine, a child was born
perfectly normal below the navel but divided above it, so that it had
two chests and two heads, each possessing the senses. One would eat

106

Chronographia AM 5867

and drink but the other did not eat; one would sleep but the other
stayed awake. There were times when they played with each other,
when both cried and hit each other. They lived for a little over two
years. One died while the other lived for another four days and it,
too, died.Il°

In the same year the emperor Theodosios set up the column of the
Tauros.?

« Cf. Mai. 338-9. > cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 8-9, dated to reign of Arkadios.

G. Downey, A History of Antioch in Syria (Princeton, 1961) 347-8, sug-
gests that 'the gate and the bridge stood on the outer (western) side of the
island at the terminus of the road from Cilicia and the Taurus mountains’.

* Downey, op. cit. 434, takes this to be an addition to the Great Church
and was a thank-offering for the imperial pardon of the city following insur-
rection.

3 i.e. a column surmounted by his statue in what was later to become the
Forum Tauri, or Forum of Theodosios (inaugurated in 393). The statue fell
in the earthquake of 480, and in 506 Anastasios put his own statue on the
column. See AM 5970 and 5998 (end).

[AM 5879, AD 386/7]

Theodosios, 9thyear
Vararanes, 5th year
Siricius, 7thyear
Nektarios, 3rd year
Cyril, 21st year
Timothy, 7thyear
Meletios, 15th year

IlIn this year after the death of Timothy, bishop of Alexandria, on the
26th of the month Epiphi, Theophilos was ordained in his place.1I”
"Cf. Exceipta Latina Baibaii 63a (ed. Schoene 239. 15-18).

* This will have come from Theophanes' Alexandrian source which has
links with the Exceipta Barbaii.

[AM 5880, AD 387/8]

Theodosios, 10th year
Vararanes, 6thyear
Siricius, 8th year
Nektarios, 4th year

107

AM5931 Chronographia

Cyril, 22nd year
Theophilos, bishop of Alexandria (28 years), 1st year
Meletios, 16th year

IIn this year the pious emperor Theodosios, after defeating the
usurper Maximus, killed him on the 12th day before the kalends of
August, and also Andragathios, Maximus’ general, who had mur-
dered Gratian. II**

" Cf. Hyd. Lem. a.388.

* Cf. AM 5877. Maximus was killed on 28 July or Aug. 388, not 21 July as
here (PLRE 1. 588). Andragathios committed suicide by drowning after
Maximus’ death (PLRE i. 63).

[AM 5881, AD 388/9]

Theodosios, nth year
Vararanes, 7thyear
Siricius, 9th year
Nektarios, 5thyear
Cyril, 23rd year
Theophilos, 2nd year
Meletios, 17th year

IlIn this year Theodosios came to Rome with his son Honorius and
established him as emperor there on the 5th day before the Ides of
June, and then went back to Constantinople. 1

" Cf. Hydatius a.389.

* Theodosios entered Rome on 13 June (not 9 June as here), but, although
he did distribute congiaria, he did not proclaim Honorius Augustus until
Jan. 393 (PLRE i. 442). Theodosios left Rome on 1 Sept. 389. After the fall of
Eugenios (Sept. 394), Honorius together with Galla Placidia was summoned
to Milan by Theodosios. Cf. AM 5886.

[AM 5882, AD 389/90]

Theodosios, 12th year
Vararanes, 8th year
Siricius, iothyear
Nektarios, 6th year
Cyril, 24th year
Theophilos, 3rd year
Meletios, 18th year

108

Chronographia AM 5883

IlIn this year occurred the usurpation of Eugenios, the ex-school-
master turned secretary, who donned the imperial regalia, with
Argabastes, a native of the lesser Galatia, as his associate.’ When
Valentinian the younger, son of the elder Valentinian and Justa,
heard of this, he committed suicide by hanging himself.* After
Theodosios heard the news, he began arming to go out and avenge
him. 1"

lTheophilos, bishop of Alexandria, after applying to the emperor
Theodosios, cleansed the pagan temple in Alexandria and turned it
into a church and also made public the secret rites of the pagans,
including their phalli and other things even more lewd and more
profane. As a result, the mass of pagans out of shame committed
numerous murders. When Theodosios learned of the murders com-
mitted by them, he lauded the murdered Christians as martyrs and
promised to forgive the pagans if they converted to Christianity. He
ordered that their temples be destroyed and that the idols be melted
down and given for the needs of the poor. When the temple of Serapis
in Alexandria was being pulled down, hieroglyphic writings were
discovered in the shape of the cross; when the pagans who became
Christian saw them they said that according to the meaning of hiero-
glyphic writing the cross signified the life to come. 1

" Theod. Lect. 275-6 (85. 5-9); cf. Sokr. v. 25, Soz. vii. 22, 24. > Theod. Lect.
250-2 (80. 22-81. 7); cf. Soz. vii. 14-15, Theod. HE v. 15, Sokr. v. 16-17.

* Argabastes (i.e. Arbogastes) proclaimed Eugenios Augustus in Aug. 392
{PLRE i. 293).

* Valentinian was probably driven to suicide in May 392, i.e. three
months before Eugenios' proclamation; see B. Croke, Historia, 25 (1976),
235-44-

3 Only a swarm of rats emerged when the Serapion was struck, Jones, LRE
167-8. Thedateis uncertain, 389 according to Marcell. com.and39i accord-
ing to the Gallic Chronicle {Chron. Min. i. 650).

AM 5883 [AD 390/1]

Year of the divine Incarnation 383

Theodosios, emperor of the Romans (16 years), 13th year
Vararanes, emperor of the Persians (11 years), 9th year
Siricius, bishop of Rome (15 years), nth year

Nektarios, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 7th year
Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (35 years), 25th year
Theophilos, bishop of Alexandria (28 years), 4th year
Meletios, bishop of Antioch (25 years), 19th year

109

AM 5931 Chronographia

llIn this year Marcellus, the bishop of Apameia in Syria, moved by
divine zeal, overthrew the temples of the pagans in Apameia, and
because of this was murdered by the pagans. As for Nektarios of
Constantinople, he issued an interdict against the presbyter in
charge of penance because of a sin committed in church by a certain
deacon against a woman who was there to do penance. In Rome and
throughout the West this [institution] is carefully preserved even up
to the present,’ and a place is set aside for the penitents. The
emperor Theodosios introduced a law that a woman could not
advance to the diaconate unless she had passed the age of 60 in
accordance with the Apostle.* He banished Eunomios for setting up
a rival congregation and for deceiving the people. Eunomios died in
exile. n°

llIn the same year Theodosios' wife, Placilla,*? died. She was pious
and charitable to the poor and used to minister to lepers and the sick
with her own hands. The people of Antioch smashed her statue and
dragged it about in fury over the taxes which the emperor had
imposed on them. He was exceedingly angry because of his affection
for the most pious Placilla and would have put them all to death had
not Flavian, the bishop of Antioch, gone and made representations
on behalf of the people of Antioch. John Chrysostom, who was then
a presbyter at Antioch and present [at these events], delivered some
magnificent orations‘’ to reprove those who had shown such daring

against the imperial statues. u°

° Theod. Lect. 253-6 (81. 8—19); cf. Theod. HE v. 21, Soz. vii. 15-17.
> Theod. Lect. 272 (84. 17-25); cf. Theod. HE v. 18-20.

* Theophanes has replaced Theod. Lect.'s present tense with 'up to the
present’.

* Soz. has 'the apostle Paul’.

3 i.e. Flacilla. She died in 386 (PLRE i. 341-2).

* John Chrysostom, On Statues (PG 49: 15-222), a series of twenty-one
sermons preached in Antioch between Mar. and Apr. 387.

[AM 5884, AD 391/2]

Theodosios, 14th year
Vararanes, 1oth year
Siricius, 12th year
Nektarios, 8th year
Cyril, 26th year
Theophilos, 5th year

Meletios, 20th year

Chionogiaphia AM 5871

lllIn this year,’ when Theodosios had marched against the usurper
Eugenios and reached Thessalonica with his army and entered the
city, the inhabitants rioted because of the billets for the armyll* and
on some excuse concerning a charioteer and the prefect's son.I\°
They insulted the emperor and murdered the prefect.* The emperor
restrained his temper for a while and having silenced the people
ordered the races to be held. But when the people and the partisans
were gathered to watch the races, he ordered the army to shoot them
with arrows. Fifteen thousand people perished.II*

11When Theodosios entered Milan, the bishop Ambrose refused to
let him enter the church. At the festival of the birth of the Saviour,
when the magister Rufinus had come to intercede [on the emperor's
behalf] Ambrose reproved him severely. When Theodosios at the
instigation of Ambrose introduced a law that a thirty-day respite for
further examination be granted to those condemned to death or con-
fiscation, then Ambrose received him into the church outside the
altar precinct, and not inside it as had been the previous practice.
From this comes the excellent custom which has prevailed until
now that emperors should stand outside the altar precinct with the
congregation. 11°

llIn the same year, when the river Nile did not rise in the usual
way, the pagans rejoiced claiming that the reason for this was that
they had been prevented from sacrificing to their gods. When the
pious emperor learned of this, he replied, 'May it never happen that
a river, which rejoices in sacrifice, should flood the land.’ And God
gave His assent and blessed the rising of the river to such an extent
that everyone in Egypt feared lest the flooding of the water submerge
even Alexandria itself. 1”

* Mai. 347. 16-19. > Theod. Lect. 270(84. 1-2); cf. Soz. vii. 25, Theod. HEv.
18. © Mai. 347. 19-21. 4 Theod. Lect. 270 (84. 3-11). Theophanes
inserts, 'an excellent custom’. Cf. Soz. vii. 25, Theod. HE v. 18. © Theod. Lect.

265 (83. 3-8); cf. Soz. vii. 20.

" In fact 390.
* Rather it was the master of soldiery Butheric, PLRE i. 166.
3 For general discussion see A. Hermann, JAC 2 (1959), 30-69.

AM 5885 [AD 392/3]

Year of the divine Incarnation 385

Theodosios, emperor of the Romans (16 years), 15th year
Vararanes, emperor of the Persians (11 years), nth year
Siricius, bishop of Rome (15 years), 13th year

ILL

AM5931 Chronographia

Nektarios, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 9th year
Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (35 years), 27th year
Theophilos, bishop of Alexandria (28 years), 6th year
Meletios, bishop of Antioch (25 years), 21st year

uIn this year the pious emperor Theodosios fought bravely against
Eugenios at the passes to the Alps, and, after capturing him alive,
executed him.’ Argabastes escaped and committed suicide.

In the same year, the relics of the prophets Habakkuk and Micah
were found with God's aid in two villages in the district of
Eleutheropolis* by Zebenos, bishop of Eleutheropolis in Palestine,
who had had a vision.

When the emperor reached Rome? a number of bishops
approached him with a motion from Innocent* of Rome against
Flavian, bishop of Antioch. The most Christian emperor, after
exhorting them to peace united them after seventeen years,” order-
ing that bishops from the East should come to Rome for this, among
whom was sent Akakios of Beroia. Theodosios conferred many ben-
efits on the Romans. He also put an end to the outrageous practice
in the bakeries whereby condemned foreigners were locked away in
the mills until they reached old age, and similarly he would not
allow adulterous women to be outraged any longer by being locked
up in brothels and being reproved for their deed by the ringing of a
bell. II"

" Theod. Lect. 274, 276-8 (85. 1-4, 9-22); cf. Soz. vii. 24, 29, Sokr. v. 18, 25. Theod.
HE v. 23.

" 6 Sept. 394.

* Eleutheropolis, the Betogabri of the Peutinger tables, is the modern
Beit-Jebrin, about 32 km. west of Hebron.

3 Cf. AM 5 881. F. Paschoud, Cing etudes sur Zosime (Paris, 1975), 100-24,
argues that Theodosios' ill-health would have prevented his travelling to
Rome, against A. D. E. Cameron, HSCP 73 (1969), who defends the account
of the visit in Zos. iv. 59. Cf. Holum, Theodosian Empresses, 48.

* Innocent did not become pope until 401. Theophanes rightly has
Siricius in the chronological table.

> Theophanes has weakened Theod. Lect.'s emphasis, 'At last after 17
years the churches were united’ and added the epithet 'most Christian’ to
Theodosios.

[AM 5886, AD 393/4]

Theodosios, 16th year
Vararanes, 12 th year

112

Chronographia AM 5867

Siricius, 14th year
Nektarios, 1oth year
Cyril, 28th year
Theophilos, 7th year

Meletios, 22nd year

Illn this year, after the destruction of the usurper Eugenios and the
settlement of affairs, the pious emperor Theodosios departed from
Rome and set out for Constantinople. But on reaching Milan he fell
sick and sent for his son Honorius, and having seen him, he felt bet-
ter. After watching the races, he was suddenly taken ill after lunch,
and not having the strength to attend the races in the afternoon, he
ordered his son to complete them. The following night he died in the
Lord at the age of 60,’ having been emperor for sixteen years, and
leaving his two sons as emperors, the elder Arkadios in the East and
Honorius in the West. Arkadios brought his body to Constantinople
and buried it at the Holy Apostles. 1°

* Theod. Lect. 279 (85. 24-86. 4); cf. Soz. viii. 29. 3, viii. 1. 1, Sola. vi. 1. 3,

" Theodosios died on 17 Jan. 395.

[AM S887, AD 394/5]

Arkadios, son of Theodosios, emperor of the Romans (14 years), ist
year

Isdigerdes, emperor of the Persians (21 years), 1st year’

Siricius, 15th year

Nektarios, nth year

Cyril, 29th year

Theophilos, 8th year

Meletios, 23rd year

IlIn this year Arkadios, on being appointed aqutokrator, built the big
portico opposite the Praetorium.il'?*

" Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 1.

" Yazdgerd (I) ruledinfact from 39910421.

* Since Theophanes was making considerable use of his Alexandrian
material at this period, this too may well have come from the Alexandrian
source and so refer to Alexandria rather than Constantinople.

113

AM5931 Chronographia

[AM 5888, AD 395/6]

Arkadios, 2nd year

Isdigerdes, 2nd year

Anastasios, 38th bishop of Rome (3 years), 1st year’
Nektarios, 12th year

Cyril, 30th year

Theophilos, gth year

Meletios, 24th year

* Anastasios was pope from 27 Nov. 399 to 19 Dec. 401. Despite the
rubric Theophanes allows Anastasios two years only.

[AM 5889, AD 396/7]

Arkadios, 3rd year
Isdigerdes, 3rd year
Anastasios, 2nd year
Nektarios, 13th year
Cyril, 31st year
Theophilos, 1oth year
Meletios, 25th year

AM 5890 [AD 397/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 390

Arkadios, emperor of the Romans (14 years), 4th year
Isdigerdes, emperor of the Persians (21 years), 4th year
Innocent, bishop of Rome (is years), rst year’

Nektarios, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 14th year
Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (35 years), 32nd year
Theophilos, bishop of Alexandria (28 years), nth year

Flavian, bishop of Antioch (22 years), 1st year

In this year the relics of the holy prophet John the Forerunner and
Baptist were translated to Alexandria, on the 6th day before the
kalends of July, the 2nd of the month Pauni.’

* Innocent was pope from 22 Dec. 401 to 12 Mar. 417.

" The Roman date converts to 26 June, the Alexandrian to 27 June. This
has presumably come from Theophanes' Alexandrian source, which, inter-
estingly, Theophanes has prefered to the account of Theod. Lect. 268 (83.
14-24) that the head was brought to Constantinople. In the latter story the
discovery is attributed to Macedonian heretics, which may explain

114

Chronographia AM 5867

Theophanes' choice of source, though in Theod. Lect. the story is turned
against Valens, which should have appealed to Theophanes.

[AM 5891/ “” 398/9]

Arkadios, 5th year
Isdigerdes, 5th year
Innocent, 2nd year
Nektarios, 15 th year
Cyril, 33rd year
Theophilos, 12thyear
Flavian, 2nd year

In this year Anatalios the illustrissimus was burned in Alexandria.’
uThe emperor Arkadios created his own military unit in
Constantinople, which he called the Arcadiaci.ll"

" Cf. Mai. 349. 5-6, Leo Gramm. 104. 19.

" This is the only known reference to Anatolios.

[AM 5892, AD 399/400]

Arkadios, 6th year
Isdigerdes, 6th year
Innocent, 3rd year
Nektarios, 16thyear
Cyril, 34th year
Theophilos, 13th year
Flavian, 3rd year

IlIn this year Nektarios, bishop of Constantinople, died.’
Theophilos, bishop of Alexandria, who was present, was eager to pre-
vent the election of John Chrysostom, and [recommended] his own
presbyter, a certain Isidore, testifying that he should be bishop of the
capital. Isidore had served Theophilos at the time when Theodosios
was waging war on the tyrant Maximus and had been entrusted by
him (Theophilos) with two letters and gifts. But the emperor and the
whole city were pleased to ordain John, who had been summoned
from Antioch by the emperor for this purpose.” John was among the
most distinguished men of Antioch; his father was Secundus and his
mother Anthousa. He was extremely eloquent, largely from divine
grace, and was admired even by the most skilled sophists among the
pagans; hence, when Libanios was close to death and was asked by

115

AM 5892 Chionogiaphia

his students, 'Who should take over the school after you?’ he replied,
‘| would have said John, had not the Christians snatched him away
from us.' Chrysostom was taught the holy scriptures by a certain
Karterios, abbot of a monastery, and received his general education
from the aforementioned Libanios.11**

11In the same year a son was born‘ to the emperor Arkadios by the
Augusta Eudoxia, namely Theodosios the youngerll® whom John

Chrysostom sponsored at his baptism.

" Theod. Lect. 280-1 (86. 5-17); cf. Sokr. vi. 2-3, Soz. viii. 2. > Theod. Lect.
284 (87. 8-9); cf. Soz. viii. 4, Sokr. vi. 6, AM 5893.

27 Sept. 397.

* John Chrysostom was appointed on 26 Feb. 398.

3 For Libanios, Theod. Lect. has Diodoros, bishop of Tarsos. Soz. has both.
Thus either Theophanes' access to the 5th cent, ecclesiastical historians is
not via Theod. or more probably, our fragments of Theod. Lect. have also
suffered from abbreviation.

4 10 Apr. 401.

[AM 5893, AD 400/1]

Arkadios, 7th year

Isdigerdes, 7th year

Innocent, 4th year

John Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople (6 years), 1st year
Cyril, 35th year

Theophilos, 14th year

Flavian, 4th year

I lln the seventh year of Arkadios, a son was born to him by Eudoxia,
namely Theodosios the younger.! |*!
° Theod. Lect. 284 (87. 8-9); cf. Soz. viii. 4, Sokr. vi. 6.

* Cf. AM 5892. This time the date is right.

[AM 5894, AD 401/2]

Arkadios, 8th year

Isdigerdes, 8th year

Innocent, 5th year

John, 2nd year

John, bishop of Jerusalem (16 years), ist year

Chronographia AM 5867

Theophilos, 15th year
Flavian, 5th year

1iIn this year Gainas usurped power from Arkadios and did much
harm in Byzantium.’ After exchanging oaths with Arkadios in the
church of St Euphemia in Chalcedon, he broke them and, after doing
more harm, he entered the city where he went plundering and com-
mitting other atrocities. He then left for the Thracian Chersonese
where, after building rafts, he made preparations to cross over into
Asia to seize the eastern cities. But after a violent war had broken

out there on land and sea he perished with his army. 11°

" Theod. Lect. 284 (87. 1-8); cf. Soz. viii. 4, Sokr. vi. 6.

Gainas' revolt occurred in 400. On the revolt, in effect a mutiny by
Gothic (Arian) soldiers, see Bury, HLRE' i. 129-35, P. J. Heather, Phoenix,
42 (1988), 152-72.

[AM 5895, AD 402/3]

Arkadios, 9th year
Isdigerdes, gth year
Innocent, 6th year
John, 3rd year

John, 2nd year
Theophilos, 16th year
Flavian, 6th year

Illn this year Honorius stirred up confusion and discord in Rome.
Aroused against the citizens because of some minor matters and not
checking his anger, he moved to Ravenna,’ a coastal city in Italy. He
then sent one of his ministers, a barbarian of Gallic race,* at the head
of a large army with orders to plunder and harass those who had
wronged him. So Rome was besieged by him and narrowly escaped
being completely destroyed.* But Alaric put himself at the disposal
of the senators of the city,* and after taking all the money from the
palace and Honorius' sister (on his father's side) Placidia,®> who was
then a young maiden, returned to his own nation in Gaul. But a cer-
tain Constantius,®° who was a comes with Alaric, being entrusted
with the maiden Placidia, fled with her and brought her to the
emperor Honorius. The emperor received Constantius and made
him a senator. A little later he gave Constantius the girl in marriage’
and proclaimed him emperor.® He had a son by her whom he called

Valentinian the younger.® Constantius campaigned with Honorius

117

AM 5931 Chronographia

and destroyed the usurpers in Rome,’° and they confiscated their
houses and brought peace to the city. 0°

uThe great teacher John illuminated not only the Church of
Constantinople, but also those of Thrace, Asia, and Pontos so that,
even before the holy Synod at Chalcedon, the bishop of
Constantinople was the leader of those Churches.Il° A certain fol-
lower of Makedonios returned to the Church because of the Father's
teaching. This man, after exhorting his wife to convert and take
communion, was scarcely able to persuade her. She, for her part,
gave to her maid the sacraments of the Macedonians, and bade her
keep them. She then approached Chrysostom, received the sacra-
ment from his holy hands, and, pretending to partake of it, at the last
moment gave it to her maid and took the Macedonians’ sacrament,
which she put in her mouth but found it had turned to stone.
Shuddering with fear she fell at the feet of John, confessing her
effrontery, and sincerely joined the Church. The stone was placed in
the sacristy for safe keeping. n°

IlChrysostom's letter to Theodore of Mopsuestia was addressed
not to the first [Theodore] but to the later one I\‘

The great Arsenios, [at first] a layman, renounced everything and
began practising sacred philosophy in Egypt, and so became con-
spicuous in the monastic order for his way of life, his teaching and
his miracles.”

Illn the same year Arkadios set up the column of Xerolophos”™ and
founded Arkadioupolis® in Thrace.I I*

" Mai. 349. 12-350. 12; cf. Nik. Kali. xiv. 5. > Theod. Lect. 283 (86. 21-4); cf.
Theod. HE v. 28, Chalcedon, Canon 28 (ACO ii. 1. 3). <= Theod. Lect. 285 (87.
10-21); cf. Soz. viii. 5. 4 Theod. Lect. 282 (86. 18-20); cf. Soz. viii. 2, John Chrys.
PG 47: 297. " Cf. Geo. Mon. 489. 9, Leo Gramm. 104. 20, Mich. Syr. ii. 1.

Probably autumn of 402, see Bury, HLRE’ i. 163.

* Alaric was a Visigoth. Theophanes' confused version, derived from
Malalas, is difficult to sort out.

3 This appears to be a conflation of Alaric's sieges and threats on Rome in
408. At this stage the post which Alaric held was probably comes Illyrici.

4 This presumably refers to the Senate's submission to Alaric's demands,
leading to his proclamation of Priscus Attalus as emperor at Rome.

> Placidia was taken during the capture of Rome in 410. See AM 5903.

® Constantius led forces against Athaulf, Alaric's brother and successor,
in 414 to recover Placidia. Placidia was restored in 416 when Vallia, the new
Visigothic king, accepted peace terms. The version given here appears in
various sources. See PLRE ii. 323.

7 Constantius’ marriage to Placidia took place on r Jan. 417, the day he
celebrated his second consulship.

118

Chronographia AM5867

5 Augustus 8 Feb. to 2 Sept. 421. See AM 5913, the only source to provide
this date.

° Valentinian III, Augustus 425-55, born 2 July 419 [PLRE ii. 1138).

* Cf. Oros. viii. 42. 15, which perhaps lends some support for this state-
ment.

"On Arsenios see PLRE i. 14. A former tutor to Arkadios and Honorius,
he turned monk at the age of 4o and spent the rest of his long life (he died at
95) in various monasteries in the Egyptian desert. Fifty-five apophthegmata
about him exist (PG 65: 88-108). Theophanes may have been aware of a
Laudation of Arsenios by Theodore the Studite. On ‘sacred philosophy’
meaning monasticism, see H. Hunger in M. Mullett and R. Scott, eds.,
Byzantium and the Classical Tradition (Birmingham, 1981), 40-1.

” Cf. AM 6041, 6232. In the patriographic tradition the Xerolophos was
linked with prophetic powers. See G. Dagron and J. Paramelle, TMj (1979)/
491-523. For illustrations see E. H. Freshfield, Archaeologia, 72 [1921-2],
87-104.

° Liileburgaz, about half way between Istanbul and Edirne. See AM 6051,
n. 17.

AM 5896 [AD 403/4]

Year of the divine Incarnation 396

Arkadios, emperor of the Romans (14 years), 10th year
Isdigerdes, emperor of the Persians (21 years), iothyear
Innocent, bishop of Rome (is years), 7th year

John, bishop of Constantinople (6 years), 4th year

John, bishop of Jerusalem (16 years), 3rd year
Theophilos, bishop of Alexandria (28 years), 17th year
Flavian, bishop of Antioch (22 years), 7th year

Illn this year John Chrysostom was particularly conspicuous for his
way of life, his teaching, and his divine gifts as well as for being
scrupulous in every virtue. He was loved by the whole congregation,
which was greatly edified by his teaching, but those who lived a prof-
ligate life shunned him and collaborated to make war on him. At
this juncture occurred the affair of the eunuch Eutropios,’ and fur-
thermore the rivalry between Severianus of Gabala and John's
archdeacon Sarapion,* the matter of the Tall [Brothers]? who had fled
from Egypt because of Theophilos, and Theophilos' correspondence
with Epiphanios.‘ In all of these John, the servant of God, was being
plotted against. Epiphanios of Cyprus came to the Hebdomon,?’ and
held ordinations and services contrary to John's wish. But although
John overlooked this because of his holy love and indeed invited

Epiphanios to stay in the episcopal residence with him, Epiphanios

119

AM 5931 Chronographia

did not choose to do so, having been won over by Theophilos' slan-

ders against the blessed John. 11°

" Theod. Lect. 287-8 (88. 5-17) (Theophanes adds of John Chrysostom 'the servant
of God' and ‘against the blessed John’); cf. Soz. viii. 2, 7, 10,12-14, Sokr. vi. 5, 9, 11-12,
14.

* According to Sokr. vi. 5, John attacked Eutropios in his sermon while
Eutropios was actually lying under the altar. Eutropios was removed from
the church, exiled, recalled, and beheaded. The date is 399. See PLRE ii.
440-4.

* See Sokr. vi. n. The date is probably 4or. Cf. Holum, Theodosian
Empresses, 70-1.

3 See Sokr. viii. 12. The tall brothers were four monks who led the
Origenist movement in Egypt. Oppressed by Theophilos in Alexandria in
399, they won the support of John in Constantinople but as that was inef-
fective, they turned to Eudoxia, who promised to arrange a synod aimed at
Theophilos. This led to the Synod of the Oak (autumn 403, see AM 5897) but
with John replacing Theophilos as the accused. See Holum, Theodosian
Empresses, 73-4.

* See Soz. viii. 14. Epiphanios, a strong opponent of Origenism, came to
Constantinople in 400 after corresponding with Theophilos of Alexandria.

> On the Hebdomon cf. AM 5930, n. 3.

[AM 5897, AD 404/5]

Arkadios, nth year
Isidgerdes, nth year
Innocent, 8th year
John, 5th year

John, 4th year
Theophilos, 18th year

Flavian, 8th year

llln this year John Chrysostom gave a sermon against evil women,
which the enemies of truth, who were ill-disposed to him, used in
order to provoke Eudoxia by claiming that the sermon had been
aimed against her.’ She then told Arkadios how terribly she had suf-
fered through John and drove him to summon Theophilos, who was
obviously John's enemy. When Theophilos arrived at the Oak,
which is now called Rufinianae, he contrived a plot against John,
whom they banished from the city.” When the people came to know
of this, they caused a great riot and would not allow John to be
expelled. At this Eudoxia, moved by the lament of the people,

appealed to the emperor Arkadios, who sent the eunuch Brison to

120

Chronographia AM 5867

recall John from Prainetos.? John, however, refused to enter the city
before there was an inquiry by the synod and resided in a suburb at
Anaplous. The people, shouting at the emperors, forced them to
bring John back and establish him on his throne. As a result
Theophilos and his party fled in fear from the city. Thereupon sixty
bishops gathered and justly confirmed that all the charges made
by Theophilos and his supporters against the holy John were
invalid. I\*

" Theod. Lect. 293 (89. 10-24) (Theophanes inserts 'the enemies of truth’),- cf. Soz.
viii. 16-19, Sokr. vi. 15.

* It probably had been. See Holum, Theodosian Empresses, 72-3. The
date is probably 403.

* The Synod of the Oak, in the palace that had once belonged to Rufinus
near Chalcedon, took place in July 403. It was stacked with supporters of
Theophilos (all but seven of the 36 or 45 bishops who attended were from
Egypt). On Rufinianae see Janin, Grands centres, 36 ff.

3 Prainetos, a market town in Bithynia, modern Karamursel.

[AM 5898, AD 405/6]

Arkadios, 12th year
Isdigerdes, 12th year
Innocent, goth year
John, 6th year

John, 5th year
Theophilos, igth year
Flavian, gth year

Illn this year the empress Eudoxia had a silver statue made of herself
and set it up in a place called Pittakia near St Eirene.’ The City
Prefect, being a Manichaean and a supporter of paganism, organized
noisy choirs and dancing in front of the statue and raised a commo-
tion, which distressed John since it did not allow him to celebrate
the holy liturgy in peace. For it frequently interrupted the psalm-
singing. The holy John inveighed verbally against the prefect, who
roused Eudoxia against John, saying that the latter was annoyed by
the honour given to her statue. So once again there was hatred and
anger against John. He then delivered a sermon that began, ‘Once
again Herodias is frenzied'.* At this the empress's hostility towards
him reached its peak and, once again, came deposition and banish-
ment.? The people set fire to the church and many risked danger on

John's behalf. John was driven from the cityll*? and banished to

121

AM 5898 Chronographia

Koukousos,* from where he was transferred to Pityous.> When he
was at Komana’ in the approaches of Armenia, he died in the Lord. 11°

uAfter his banishment Arsakios was ordained. He was the brother
of Nektarios who had preceded Chrysostom. However, Innocent of
Rome and Flavian of Antioch did not agree to John's banishment,
but wrote a letter of consolation to the clergy of the city and showed
their displeasure at these shameless acts. I°

llEpiphanios set sail for Cyprus, for it seems that God forewarned
him of his death. They say that he also revealed to John his death in
exile and John told Epiphanios that his would be on a ship.
Epiphanios said to those who were seeing him off, 'I go in haste and
I leave to you the books, the city, and the [art of] hypocrisy.'ll¢

IIIn the same year Eudoxia, too, died. II”

" Cf. Theod. Lect. 293 (89. 24-90. 2), Soz. Vili. 20, Sokr. vi. 18, Mich. Syr. ii. 1 and

6. ’ Theod. Lect. 298 (90. 18-19]; cf. Theod. HE v. 34, Soz. viii. 28.
© Theod. Lect. 294-5 (go. 3-9; cf. Soz. viii. 23-25. 4 Theod. Lect. 291 (89.1—5
cf. Soz. vili. 15. © Theod. Lect. 296 (90. 14); cf. Soz. viii. 27, Sokr. vi. 19. Not

marked in de Boor or Hansen.

" Theod. Lect., following Soz., does not give the location of the statue.
Sokr. locates it 'near Hagia Sophia’. Mich. Syr. agrees with Theophanes in
placing it near St Eirene, so that Michael and Theophanes seem to be inde-
pendent of Theod. Lect. here. Differences in their versions of this story fur-
ther suggest that they have produced different interpretations of a common
source rather than that Michael was following Theophanes. On the Pittakia
and Eudoxia's statue, whose pedestal is preserved, see P. Speck, Hellenika,
22 (1969), 430-5; I. Sevcenko, Annals of the Ukrainian Acad. 12 (1969-72),
204-16.

? PG 59: 485. The prefect is identified with Simplicius 4, PLRE ii. 1014.

3 20 June 404. For Chrysostom's disputes with Eudoxia and her circle, see
J. W. H. G. Liebeschuetz in A. Moffatt, ed., Maistor (Canberra, 1984),
85-111.

4 For Koukousos see AM 5960, n. 4.

> Modem Pitzunda in Lazica, the last Roman station/fortress along the
Pontos, two days journey from Sebastopolis (Prok. Aed. iii. 7. 8-9, BG iv. 4. 4).

° Theophanes adds ‘died in the Lord’ and defines Komana as ‘in the
approaches of Armenia’. On the site of Komana in Pontos Polemoniakos
(modern Gumenek), see F. and E. Cumont, Studia Pontica, ii (Brussels,
1906), 248 ff.

7 Eudoxia died on 6 Oct. 404 (PLRE ii. 410).

[AM 5899, AD 406/7]

Arkadios, 13th year
Isdigerdes, 13th year

122

Chronographia AM5867

Innocent, 1 oth year

Arsakios, bishop of Constantinople (2 years), 1st year
John, 6thyear

Theophilos, 20th year

Flavian, 10th year

I In this year, while the emperor Arkadios was at Karya’ where, they
say, the holy martyr Akakios had suffered, he prayed and left the
church and immediately after that the huge church at Karya col-
lapsed. The crowd, who were saved, ascribed their safety to the
emperor's prayer.I \*

" Theod. Lect. 299 (go. 21-4); cf. Sokr. vi. 23, Soz. ix. 1, Mich. Syr. ii. 1.

" Karya was in Constantinople: see Berger, Patria, 466 ff. The word means
a nut tree, there being a tradition that Akakios had been martyred by being
hanged from that tree (as against being beheaded). Chron. Pasch. 570 records
damage elsewhere in Constantinople from an earthquake on 1 Apr. 407. See
Whitby and Whitby, Chron. Pasch. 61.

[AM 5900, AD 407/8]

Arkadios, 14th year
Isdigerdes, 14th year
Innocent, nth year
Arsakios, 2nd year
John, 7thyear
Theophilos, 21st year
Flavian, 1th year

IllIn this year the earth in Rome groaned for seven days.’ And in
Ravenna Stilicho, the illustrissimus, was murdered, as well as other
powerful people, in the very year Arkadios died, on the eleventh day
before the kalends of September.II*

uArkadios, perceiving that his son, the young Theodosios, was
still very small and unprotected and fearing that someone would
plot against him, proclaimed him emperor and in his will appointed
the Persian emperor Isdigerdes his guardian. Isdigerdes, the Persian
emperor, after accepting Arkadios' will, behaved most pacifically
towards the Romans and preserved the Empire for Theodosios. After
dispatching Antiochos,* a most remarkable and highly educated
adviser and instructor, he wrote to the Roman Senate as follows:
‘Since Arkadios has died and has appointed me as his child's
guardian, I have sent the man who will take my place. Let no one

123

AM5931 Chronographia

attempt a plot against the child so that I need not stir up an implac-
able war against the Romans.’ After Antiochos had come, he stayed
at the emperor's side. Theodosios was educated wisely in Christian
matters by his uncle Honorius and his sister Pulcheria.* And there
was peace between the Romans and the Persians, especially since
Antiochos produced many writings on behalf of the Christians; and
thus Christianity was spread in Persia, with the bishop of
Mesopotamia, Marouthas,° acting as mediator.I\?

* Cf. Marcell. com. a.408, Auct. Piosp. a.408 {Chron. Min. i. 299), Chron. Pasch.
570, Mich. Syr. ii. 10, Theod. Lect. 299 (go. 20), Soz. ix. 4, Sokr. vi. 23. > CF
Nik. Kail. xiv. 1. Prok. BP i. 2. 7-10, Chr. 1234, 136-7 (p. 173), Mich. Syr. ii. 2.

* Cf. Mich. Syr., 'The earth groaned for seven days and earth tremors did
not cease in the imperial city (? = Constantinople) by night or day for four
months. Everyone said "It is the vengeance of God, who is chastising the
city . . . because of the illegitimate deposing of St. John." ' Prosp. Cont.
Havn. makes the earthquake signify the capture of Rome in two years’ time.
The Gallic Chronicle {Chron. Min. i. 652, a.408) places the earthquake in
Utica. Chron. Pasch. 570. 3-5 (a.407), 'there was rain, thunder, lightning and
an earthquake on 1 Apr.’ (in Constantinople); 570. 15-17 (a.408): 'there was
rain, thunder, lightning and an earthquake on 5 July’ (also in Constan-
tinople). Mich. Syr. and Marcell. com. alone cover all of Theophanes' items,
but Mich. Syr. may be referring to AM 5930.

* 22 Aug. In the Greek it looks as if this was meant to refer to Arkadios'
death, which in fact was on 1 May 408 (PLRE i. 99) rather than that of
Stilicho, forwhomit would be accurate (22 Aug. 408, PLRE i. 857). Certainly
news of Arkadios' death had reached Italy before Stilicho's downfall.

3 As is pointed out in PLRE ii. 102, this story cannot be correct as it
stands since Antiochos was already in Constantinople when Arkadios died.
Possibly Yazdgerd simply approved Antiochos as Theodosios' tutor. On the
role of Antiochos see J. Bardill and G. Greatrex, DOP 50 (1996).

* Theophanes gives AM 5905 (AD 412/13) as the year when Pulcheria took
over from Antiochos.

> On whom see E. Tisserant, art. Marouta de Mayphergat, DTC x (1927),
142 ff., J. Noret, AnBoll 91 (1973), 77 ff. Cf. also AM 5916.

AM 5901 [AD 408/9]

Year of the divine Incarnation 401

Theodosios, emperor of the Romans (42 years), 1st year
Isdigerdes, emperor of the Persians (21 years), 15th year
Innocent, bishop of Rome (15 years), 12th year
Attikos, bishop of Constantinople (20 years), ist year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (16 years), 8thyear

124

Chronographia AM 5867

Theophilos, bishop of Alexandria (28 years), 22nd year
Flavian, bishop of Antioch (22 years), 12th year

In this year, on the death of the emperor Arkadios, who had ruled
after the death of his father Theodosios 14 years, 3 months, and 14
days (having already ruled jointly with his father for twelve years),
he left his son Theodosios as emperor, then 8 years old, who had
ruled jointly with his father Arkadios for six years.’ 11When
Theodosios became sole ruler, his sister Pulcheria, who was a virgin
15 years old,* managed the Empire excellently with the help of God.
He had two other sisters, Arkadia and Marina, whom Pulcheria per-
suaded to live a virgin life. Possessing great wisdom and a holy mind,
she educated her brother Theodosios. She gave her brother
Theodosios a royal training, above all in piety towards God, but also
in character, speech, gait, laughter, dress, deportment, and behav-
iour. After building numerous churches, poor-houses, hostels, and
monasteries, she endowed all of them with appropriate income in
imperial style. Sozomen says about her that she was even deemed
worthy of divine manifestation. II"

* Theod. Lect. 301-2 (91. 4-13); cf. Soz. ix. 1.

* Theodosios was born 10 Apr. 401 and became an Augustus 10 fan. 402,
so Theophanes' calculation is sound.

* Pulcheria was born 19 Jan. 399. '15 years old’ comes originally from Soz.
Theophanes has placed it in the wrong year. Cf. AM 5905, where it would be
almost correct.

[AM Sgo2, AD 409/10]

Theodosios, 2nd year
Isdigerdes, 16 th year
Innocent, 13 thyear
Attikos, and year
fohn, 9th year
Theophilos, 23 rd year
Flavian, 13th year

llln this year, Attikos, bishop of Constantinople, having admonished
a certain few who was paralytic, and having persuaded him and bap-
tized him, brought him from the font restored to health. For Attikos
was said to have lived according to God.ll*

° Theod. Lect. 303 (91. 14-16); cf. Sokr. vii. 2, Ps.-Dion a.724 (AD 413), pp. 142-3.
125

AM5931 Chronographia

[AM 5903, AD 4Io0/I11]

Theodosios, 3rd year
Isdigerdes, 17th year
Innocent, 14th year
Attikos, 3rd year
John, 10th year
Theophilos, 24th year
Flavian, 14th year

IlIn this year Rome was captured by Alaric on the 9th day before the
kalends of September." And after a few days Constantine, the
illustrissimus, was put to death along with many others.1”

" Cf. Prosp. Tiro, a.410 {Chron. Min. i. 466], Ps.-Dion a.728 (AD 417), p. 143, Mich.
Syr. ii. 10. © Cf. Marcell. com. a.411. See PLRE it. 316, Constantine 21, for a
list of parallels.

24 Aug. The year in fact was 410.

* Constantine (PLRE ii. 316, Constantine 21) had been proclaimed
Augustus by the armies in Britain in 407, surrendered to Honorius' generals
in 411, and was murdered by them.

[AM 5904, AD 411/12]

Theodosios, 4th year
Isdigerdes, 18th year
Innocent, 15 th year
Attikos, 4th year
John, uthyear
Theophilos, 25 thyear
Flavian, 15th year

Illn this year Jovian and Sebastian, both illustrissimi, were put to
death in Gaul.’ Their heads were brought to Rome,” and fifteen days
later Salustius and Herakleianos were put to death. I 1°?

" Cf. esp. Hyd. Lem. a.413, Ann. Rav. a.412. For full list of parallels, see PLRE ii.
621-2, lovinus 2.

* Jovian (in fact lovinus) was proclaimed emperor in Gaul in 411 and pro-
claimed his brother Sebastian emperor in 412. He was captured (probably in
413, but the Ravenna Annals give 30 Aug. 412, supporting Theophanes'
date) by Athaulf and murdered by Claudius Postumus Dardanus. See PLRE
ii. 621-2. Although Soz. ix. 15 mentions Jovian, Theophanes appears to be
depending on the annalistic tradition.

126

Chzonogiaphia AM 5905

* Probably Ravenna rather than Rome.

3 Salustius (for Sallustius) was Jovian's brother. The Ravenna Annals
again support Theophanes' date against the general tradition. Herakleianos,
appointed comes Afiicae in 408 as a reward for murdering Stilicho, rebelled
in 413 but after being defeated fled to Carthage, where he was killed (on 7
Mar. 413 according to the Ravenna Annals). See PLRE ii. 539-40.

[AM 5905, AD 412/13]

Theodosios, 5th year

Isdigerdes, 19th year

Zosimos, bishop of Rome (8 years), 1st year’
Attikos, 5th year

John, izthyear

Theophilos, 2,6th year

Flavian, 16th year

In this year the Jews in Alexandria did much harm to the
Christians. For after agreeing among themselves to wear a ring of
palm wood, they caused the heralds to shout out during the night
that the church had been set on fire. When the Christians had gath-
ered together, the Jews slaughtered them. When this act was discov-
ered, the Christian magistrates expelled the Jews from Alexandria
and confiscated their property. u**

IlIn the same year Antiochos the Persian departed and the blessed
Pulcheria gained complete control of affairs.

" Theod. Lect. 310 (92. 10-15); “f- Sokr. vii. 13; Theophanes substitutes ‘Christian
magistrates’ for Theod. Lect.'s 'Cyril of Alexandria’. > Cf. AM 5900 and 5936.

* Zosimos was pope from r8 Mar. to 26 Dec. 418.

* The incident took place after Cyril became bishop (17 Oct. 412, Sokr.
vii. 7) and before the murder of Hypatia (Mar. 415, Sokr. vii. 15). Sokr. sim-
ply says ‘about this time’, so Theophanes' date is correct, but he has mis-
placed Cyril (AM 5907). The incident is also described by John of Nikiu, 84.
g1-3 and by Mich. Syr. ii. 12, but their versions seem to be taken from Sokr.
independently of Theophanes.

3 Two, possibly three, interrelated events need to be dated; (i) the date
at which Pulcheria assumed control; if Pulcheria was then 15 (cf. AM 5900)
the year is 414; (ii) the date of Antiochos' departure, which may be the
same as (i) or (iii); and (iii) the date of Theodosios' dismissal of Antiochos,
which is disputed (cf. AM 5936). On this chronological muddle see now
J. Bardill and G. Greatrex, DOP 50 (1996).

127

AM5931 Chronographia

AM 5906 [AD 413/14]

Year of the divine Incarnation 406

Theodosios, emperor of the Romans (42 years), 6th year
Isdigerdes, emperor of the Persians (21 years), 20th year
Zosimos, bishop of Rome (8 years), 2nd year

Attikos, bishop of Constantinople (20 years), 6th year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (16 years), 13th year
Theophilos, bishop of Alexandria (28 years), 27th year
Flavian, bishop of Antioch (22 years), 17th year

In this year certain persons killed violently the philosopher
Hypatia, the daughter of the philosopher Theon.1I”

I IIn the same year the Persian emperor, Isdigerdes, who had earlier
been persuaded by the preachings of Marouthas, bishop of
Mesopotamia, and Abdaas, bishop of the capital city in Persia,
reached the pinnacle of piety,” so that he was almost on the point of
being baptized because of Marouthas' working of miracles, and was
chastizing the magi for being impostors. But in his 2oth year he was
deceived by the magi and stirred up a great persecution of the
Christians in Persia. n’ He died in his 2is,t year.

liThe cause of the persecution was this. Abdaas, bishop of the cap-
ital city in Persia, driven by his zeal for God, but not applying this
zeal where it was appropriate, set fire to the temple of Fire. When the
emperor learned of this, he decreed that the churches in Persia be
destroyed and punished Abdaas with various torments. The perse-
cution lasted five years and many were declared martyrs beyond
counting.I 1° For the magi carefully hunted down through the cities
and villages those who had escaped notice. Some gave themselves up
voluntarily so that they would not appear to have denied Christ by
their silence. With the Christians being killed unsparingly, a great
many were destroyed even in the emperor's palace.I\' Many others
sought refuge among the Romans. n°

* Theod. Lect. 311 (92. 16-17); cf. Sokr. vii. 15. > Theod. Lect. 313 (92. 24-7);
cf. Sokr. vii. 8, Theod. HE v. 39. © Cf. Theod. HE v. 39, Mich. Syr. ii. 15.
" Cf. Soz. ii, 11. o Cf. Sokr. vii. 18.

* Hypatia was killed in Mar. 415 (Sok. vii. 15). Theophanes again (cf. AM
5905) omits any reference to Cyril.

* Theophanes has introduced ‘pinnacle of piety’; and has added ‘in his
2oth year’ and 'died in his 21st year’, presumably from another source. The
persecutions did take place in the 2oth year of Yazdgerd's reign, which was,
however, in 419/20: see, AM 5918, n. 3.

128

Chronographia AM 5867

[AM 5907, AD 414/15]

Theodosios, 7thyear
Isdigerdes, 21st year
Zosimos, 3rd year
Attikos, 7th year
John, 14thyear
Theophilos, 28 th year
Flavian, 18th year

Illn this year, Theophilos, bishop of Alexandria, died, and his
nephew Cyril was appointed in his place. II'*"

I lIn the same year Hesychios, presbyter at Jerusalem, flourished in
his teaching. II”

* Theod. Lect. 305 (91. 22-3); cf. Sokr. vii. 7, Ps.-Dion a.721 [AD 410), p. 142.
> Cf. Ps.-Dion a.758 (AD 447), p. 164.

* Cyril was appointed 17 Oct. 412.

* Hesychios' dates are not known with any precision but he died after
451. His works are said to have included a history of the Council of
Chalcedon in four books, a Church History, and a commentary on the entire
Bible. For his life, Cyr. Scyth. V. Euth. 31 ff.

[AM 5908, AD 415/6]

Theodosios, 8th year

Vararanes, emperor of the Persians (20 years), 1st year’
Zosimos, 4th year

Attikos, 8thyear

John, 15th year

Cyril, bishop of Alexandria (32 years), 1st year
Flavian, 19 thyear

I In this year the Jews caught a Christian boy at Immon,” and, in jest,
as it were, and to mock the cross they hanged the boy from a piece
of wood, tortured, and killed him. When the emperor learned of this
he punished the Jews suitably. 1°

" Theod. Lect. 312 (92. 19-23); cf. Sokr. vii. 16, Mich. Syr. ii. 12.

" Vahram V ruled from 421 to 438.
* Sokr. has 'Immestar' in Syria between Antioch and Chalkis and dates
this event to ‘soon after’ the murder of Hypatia.

129

AM5931 Chronographia

[AM 5909, AD 416/17]

Theodosios, 9thyear
Vararanes, 2nd year
Zosimos, 5th year
Attikos, gthyear
John, i6thyear
Cyril, 2nd year
Flavian, 20th year

[AM 5910, AD 417/18]

Theodosios, 10th year
Vararanes, 3rd year
Zosimos, 6th year
Attikos, iothyear

[No entry for Jerusalem]
Cyril, 3rd year

Flavian, 21st year

[AM s59I1, AD 417/18]

Theodosios, nth year
Vararanes, 4th year
Zosimos, 7th year
Attikos, nth year

Praylios, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 1st year

Cyril, 4th year
Flavian, 22nd year

In this year Attikos baptized the daughter of the philosopher
Leontios, namely Athenais, and renamed her Eudokia. On the advice
of Pulcheria she was married to Theodosios.’ She was remarkable for
the beauty of her body, for the intelligence of her mind, and for her

culture. n°

IlIn the same year Valentinian, the son of Constantius and Galla

Placidia, was born in Ravenna. u™

"Theod. Lect. 316 (93. 16-18); cf. Sokr. vii. 21.

19-22); cf. Soz. ix. r6.
* 7 June 421.

130

> Theod. Lect. 3t7 (93.

Chronographia AM 5867

* 2 July 419 (cf. AM 5912). Theophanes adds 'in Ravenna’, presumably
from a chronicle source.

AM Sol2z. [AD 419/20]

Year of the divine Incarnation 412

Theodosios, emperor of the Romans (42 years), 12th year
Vararanes, emperor of the Persians (20 years), 5th year
Zosimos, bishop of Rome (8 years), 8th year

Attikos, bishop of Constantinople (20 years), 12th year
Praylios, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 2nd year

Cyril, bishop of Alexandria (32 years), 5th year
Theodotos, bishop of Antioch (4 years), 1st year

Illn this year the bishop Attikos, on seeing that the Johannites held
their services outside the Church, ordained that the name of John 84
Chrysostom be commemorated in the diptychs of the Church, and
united many people with the Church. 1*

I lIn the same year Valentinian the younger, the son of Constantius
and cousin of Theodosios, was born in Ravenna.! \

" Theod. Lect. 321 (94. 10-12); cf. Sokr. vii. 25. > CfAM 5911.

[AM 5913, °° 42,0/1]

Theodosios, 13th year

Vararanes, 6th year

Boniface, bishop of Rome (4 years), istyear’
Attikos, 13th year

Praylios, 3rd year

Cyril, 6 th year

Theodotos, 2nd year

IlIn this year Constantius, the father of Valentinian, became
emperor on the 6th day before the ides of February.* He was mur-
dered on the 4th day before the nones of September.|I"?

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 10.

" Boniface was pope from 28 or 29 Dec. 418 to 4 Sept. 422.

* 8 Feb. 421.

3 2 Sept. 421. Theophanes is the only source for the dates and, with Mich.
Syr. the only source for his being murdered. Other sources say he died
through illness. Cf. AM 5895, where again Theophanes' material on
Constantius is unique (but partly supported by Orosius).

131

AM 5914 Chionographia

[AM 5914, AD 421/2]

Theodosios, 14th year
Vararanes, 7th year
Boniface, 2nd year
Attikos, 14th year
Praylios, 4th year
Cyril, 7th year
Theodotos, 3rd year

In this year the augustalis Kallistos was murdered by his own slaves
in Alexandria on the 10th of the month Thoth.’

‘7 Sept. Theophanes is the only witness, presumably depending on his
Alexandrian source.

[AM 5915, AD 422/3]

Theodosios, 15th year
Vararanes, 8 th year
Boniface, 3rd year
Attikos, 15 th year
Praylios, 5th year
Cyril, 8th year
Theodotos, 4th year

Illn this year the emperor Honorius died in Rome on 15 August.’
This was announced in Constantinople and the city was closed for
seven days.ll* After his death, a certain John,” one of the imperial
secretaries, seized the Empire in Rome and sent an embassy to
Theodosios asking to be accepted as emperor. Theodosios locked the
envoys up in prison and sent the general Ardabourios against him;
but Ardabourios was apprehended by the usurper and locked up in
Ravenna. When Theodosios learned of this, he sent the general's son,
Aspar, against the usurper, and in answer to the prayer of the god-
loving emperor, an angel of the Lord appeared in the shape of a shep-
herd who guided Aspar and his companions and led them across the
lake adjacent to Ravenna, which was impassable but which God
made passable as He did in the time of the Israelites. So having got
across by a dry path and finding the city gates open, they killed the
usurper and freed Arbadourios from his chains. With the usurper
killed, the emperor Theodosios, having appointed Valentinian, the
son of Constantius and Galla Placidia, as Caesar,’ sent him to the

132

Chronographia AM 5867

West with his mother and also sent out the patrician Helion to see
that he became established. He ruled 32 years.I 1°

"Cf. Sokr. vii. 22, Olymp., frg. 39, Gallic Chron. [Chron. Min. i. 658). See PLRE i.
442. > Cf. Sokr. vii. 23-4, Mich. Syr. ii. 10.

* Although Sokr. mentions Honorius' date of death, Theophanes has not
apparently used him but rather a chronicle or archival source. Honorius did
die on 15 Aug. 423.

* On John, see PLRE ii. 594-5, Ioannes 6. He seized power on 20 Nov. 423
and was killed in 425. Cf. AM 5938, 5943.

3 Valentinian became Caesar on 23 Oct. 424, Augustus on 23 Oct. 425,
and was killed in Rome in 455.

[AM 5916, AD 423/4]

Theodosios, 16th year

Vararanes, 9 th year

Boniface, 4th year

Attikos, 16 thyear

Praylios, 6th year

Cyril, 9 thyear

John, bishop of Antioch (18 years), 1st year

Illn this year there was much disorder and mutual slaughter in
Alexandria. 11”

uIn the same year Theodosios sent, through the patrician Helion,
the imperial crown to Valentinian in Rome.u

II[Marouthas, bishop of Mesopotamia, cured by means of prayer
and fasting Isdigerdes, the son of the Persian emperor, who was pos-
sessed by a demon. As a result Isdigerdes gained much confidence in
Christianity. II

° Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 11. > Cf. Sokr. vii. 24. © Cf. Sokr. vii. 8, Mich. Syr.
ii. 3 and notes.

* Cf. AM 5813 where again Mich. Syr. is the only parallel for Alexandrian
material.

* Yazdgerd II (later emperor 438-57) was the son of Vahram (V), emperor
421-38, and grandson of Yazdgerd I, emperor 399-421. Sokr. vii. 8 dates this
about the time of Cyril's appointment to Alexandria (i.e. c.412) and the
death of Flavian in Antioch (i.e. c.404). For more chronological confusion on
Persia, see AM 5918a. On Marouthas see AM 5900, n. 5.

133

AM 5931 Chronographia

AM 5917 [AD 42-4/5]

Year of the divine Incarnation 417

Theodosios, emperor of the Romans (42 years), 17th year
Vararanes, emperor of the Persians (20 years), 10th year
Celestinus, bishop of Rome (10 years), 1st year’

Attikos, bishop of Constantinople (20 years), 17th year
Praylios, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 7th year

Cyril, bishop of Alexandria (32 years), 10th year

John, bishop of Antioch (18 years), 2nd year

" Celestinus was pope from 10 Sept. 42,2 to 27 July 432.

[AM 5918, AD 425/6]

Theodosios, 18th year
Vararanes, nth year
Celestinus, 2nd year
Attikos, 18th year
Praylios, 8thyear
Cyril, nth year
John, 3rd year

IlIn this year, on the death of Isdigerdes, his son Vararanes succeeded
both to his throne’ and to the persecution of piety," and sent
ambassadors to Theodosios to demand back the fugitives.* The
Roman emperor Theodosios refused to hand them over. As a result,
the peace treaty was annulled and a terrible war broke out.’
Theodosios sent out the general Ardabourios with a Roman force
while Vararanes sent out the general Narsaios with a Persian force,
together with many tens of thousands of Saracens in support.
Ardabourios reached Persia, devastated the province called
Arzanene, and proceeded t o Mesopotamia; similarly the Persian gen-
eral reached Mesopotamia near the Euphrates. The Persians, think-
ing that the Roman force was attacking them, and made cowardly
through God, threw themselves fully armed into the river and thus
about one hundred thousand perished by drowning.11The Romans
encircled all the rest and killed all of them, including the ten thou-
sand of the Immortals, as they are called by them, together with
their generals. Thus Christ exacted justice from the Persians in ret-
ribution for the many pious people whom they had killed unjustly. n°

° Cf. Theod. HE v. 39. > Cf. Sokr. vii. 18, Theod. Lect. 314 193. 4-11).
© Cf. Sokr. vii. 20.

134

Chronographia AM 5867

* Theophanes' narrative and chronological tables are muddled. Vahram's
accession has been placed in the nth year of his reign. In fact he ruled 421-38.

* i.e. those Christians who had fled to the Roman Empire from Persia
because of persecution. See Sokr. vii. 18.

3 Aug. 421-2, see Stein, BE i. 280-1; also O. J. Schrier, GRBS 33 (1992),
75-86 and G. Greatrex Florilegium 12 (1993), 1-14.

AM 5919 I*” 47°/7]

Year of the divine Incarnation 419

Theodosios, emperor of the Romans (42 years), 19th year
Vararanes, emperor of the Persians (20 years), 12th year
Celestinus, bishop of Rome (10 years), 3rd year

Attikos, bishop of Constantinople (20 years), 19th year
Praylios, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 9th year

Cyril, bishop of Alexandria (32 years), 12th year

John, bishop of Antioch (18 years), 4th year

IlIn this year the relics of the prophet Zacharias’ were discovered in
a village in the district of Eleutheropolis, and likewise those of
Stephen, the first martyr,” in the village of Kapargamala, where
Gamaliel, the teacher of the apostle Paul, and his son Abibos had
buried the body of the first martyr. n°

° Theod. Lect. 319 (93. 26-94. — cf. Soz. ix. 17, Chr. 846, 160, Chr. 724, 158. 23-4.

* ie. the prophet Zechariah.

* The relics of St Stephen were discovered in 415 by the priest Lucian,
whose letter about the discovery survives, ed. A. Papadopoulos-Kerameus,
AvdXeKTa Upoao\v)j.iTiKTjs aTaxvoXoylas, 5 (St Petersburg, 1898), 25-53. Cf.
S. Vanderlinden, REB 4 (1946), 178-217. For St Stephen's martyrdom, Acts
7: 58-8. 2; for Gamaliel as teacher of Paul, Acts 22: 3.

[AM 5920, AD 427/8]

Theodosios, 20th year
Vararanes, 13th year
Celestinus, 4th year
Attikos, 20th year
Praylios, 10th year
Cyril, 13 th year

John, 5 thyear

IlIn this year the pious Theodosios, in imitation of the blessed
Pulcheria, sent much money to the archbishop of Jerusalem for

135

AM5931 Chronographia

distribution among those in need. He also sent a golden cross, set
with precious stones to be fixed on the holy site of Calvary. The
archbishop sent as a return gift the relics of the right hand of the first
martyr Stephen, by means of Passarion, one of the holy men." In the
very night that he reached Chalcedon the blessed Pulcheria saw St
Stephen saying to her in a vision, ‘Behold, your prayer has been
heard, your request is fulfilled, and I have come to Chalcedon.’ She
arose and, taking her brother, went out to meet the holy relics and,
taking them into the palace, she built a wonderful church for the
holy First Martyr and deposited his holy relics there.I \*

" Cf. Nik. Kail. xiv. 9.

" Cf. AM 5919; K. G. Holum and G. Vikan, DOP 33 (1979), 113-33, and
J. Wortley's reply, GRBS 21 (1980), 381-94, Holum, Theodosian Empresses,
102-9. Cf. also AM 6044, n. 3. On Passarion, F. Delmas, EO 3 (1900), 162-3.

[AM 5921, AD 428/9]

Theodosios, 21st year

Vararanes, 1.4th year

Celestinus, 5th year

Sisinnios, bishop of Constantinople (2 years), 1st year
Praylios, 1th year

Cyril, 14th year

John, 6 thyear

Illn this year, moved by much goodness, the emperor Theodosios,
although he had vanquished the Persians by force of arms, embraced
peace to spare the Christians who were living in Persia, and sent as
ambassadors the patrician Helion,’ whom he held in high esteem,
and Anatolios, the magister militum per Orientem, to arrange
peace. Vararanes, aware of his defeat, received the embassy and thus
the persecution against the Christians ceased.J\* The emperor
Theodosios, giving thanks to God for such great benefits, never
ceased from honouring Him with hymns. To join him in these songs
of praise he had his sisters who practised a life of virginity.I\?

IlIn the same year Sisinnios, bishop of Constantinople, ordained
Proklos as bishop of Kyzikos. But the people of Kyzikos would not
accept him and, against Sisinnios' wish, ordained a certain monk
called Dalmatius. Not having his own church, Proklos carried on his
distinguished teaching in Constantinople, at the instigation of
Sisinnios. I I*

136

Chronographia AM 5867

Illn the same year the persecution against the Christians in Persia
ceased. IK

" Cf. Sokr. vii. 20, Ps.-Dion a.737 (AD 426), pp. 154-5. > Cf. Theod. HE v. 26.
*= Cf. Theod. Lect. 325 (94. 22-4), Sokr. vii. 28. Cf. n.'a' above, Mich. Syr. ii.
22;

" Theophanes, though consistent, is wrong to describe Helion as 'patri-
cian' here, as these events took place in 422 and Helion became a patrician
between Oct. 424 and Oct. 425. See PLRE ii. 533.

[AM 5922, AD 429/30]

Theodosios, 22nd year
Vararanes, 15th year
Celestinus, 6 th year
Sisinnios, 2nd year
Praylios, 12 th year
Cyril, 15 th year

John, 7th year

Illn this year Philip, presbyter of Side, who had written a Christian
history in thirty-six books, made many charges against Sisinnios
because he, along with Proklos, had been preferred to Philip for the
bishopric.I\* Sisinnios died forthwith.II”!

» Theod. Lect. 324 (94. 18-21); cf. Sokr. vii. 27. > Cf. Theod. Lect. 326 (94.
25-6), Sokr. vii. 27.

* Sisinnios died on 24 Dec. 427. Proklos had been secretary to the patri-
arch Attikos. On Philip of Side, see Sokr. vii. 26-7.

AM 5923 [AD 430/1]

Year of the divine Incarnation 423

Theodosios, emperor of the Romans (42 years), 23rd year
Vararanes, emperor of the Persians (20 years), 16th year
Celestinus, bishop of Rome (10 years), 7th year
Nestorios, bishop of Constantinople (3 years), 1st year
Praylios, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 13th year

Cyril, bishop of Alexandria (32 years), 16th year

John, bishop of Antioch (18 years), 8th year

IlIn this year, following the death of Sisinnios, bishop of
Constantinople, Nestorios, a native of Germanikeia,’ succeeded to

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AM5931 Chronographia

the bishopric. As soon as he mounted the throne, his heresy and
his doctrinally distorted mind were straight away revealed. For he
gave a homily on the faith to his own synkellos? and ordered him to
preach it in church. It was as follows: 'No one is to call Mary the
Mother of God. For Mary was human, and it is not possible for God
to be born from a human being.'II* A certain Eusebios,® a scholas-
ticus in the Basilica of Constantinople, was the first to object to this
statement which agitated many of the people of Byzantium.
Nestorios, eager to confirm his statement, removed everywhere the
expression 'the Mother of God’, saying that the Lord was an ordinary
man. One Sunday when Nestorios was presiding, Proklos, who had
been invited to preach, gave a homily on the Mother of God,° which
began, 'Today is the Virgin's festival, brothers.'n° Then the impious
Nestorios became hated by all for his vanity and heresy. For he also
had with him a certain Anastasios, a presbyter from Antioch, to
whom he showed great favour for being of the same persuasion, a
most outrageous fellow who blasphemed in church against the ever-
virgin Mother of God. Eusebios, bishop of Dorylaion, was the first to
denounce him. By acting in this manner he [Nestorios] stirred up
considerable uproar and disturbance. 1°”

IlIn the same year in Ephesos there occurred the remarkable mira-
cle of the seven holy youths who arose after 184 years.||°°

" Cf. Theod. Lect. 326 (94. 25—6), Sokr. vii. 29. > Cf. Nik. Kali. xiv. 32, Sokr.
vii. 32. © Cf. Nik. Kail. xiv. 32, Evagr. i. 9. 4 Theod. Lect. 327-8 (95.
1-7); cf. Sokr. vii. 32. * Cf. Geo. Mon. 498. 18, Mich. Syr. ii. 17.

* Sokr. also states that Nestorios was from Germanikeia (modern Mara§),
and then adds 'Nestorios arrived from Antioch’, whereas our surviving frag-
ment of Theod. Lect. simply has 'Nestorios bishop of Antioch’. This is proof
that Theophanes had access to a more detailed version of Theod. Lect. than
is preserved in the fragments.

* Nestorios was appointed on 10 Apr. 428.

> i.e. 'cell-mate’, a title of an associate of the patriarch, usually a high offi-
cial. Theophanes means the presbyter Anastasios. See Sokr. vii. 32 and'd’.

* Nestorios’ sermon survives in the Latin version of his enemy Marius
Mercator, PL 48: 775 ff., and ACO i. 5. 9.37.

> Eusebios the advocate is the same person as the bishop of Dorylaion
(below). See PLRE ii. 430 Eusebius 15, and RE vi. 1444. He was an agens in
rebus.

7 This sentence appears to be Theophanes' addition.

® They were said to have been walled up ina cave when taking refuge dur-
ing the Decian persecution, and now awoke as proof of the resurrection of
the dead. The legend was known in both East and West by the 6th cent.,

138

Chronographia AM 5867

being recorded by Jacob of Sarug (d. 521) and Gregory of Tours. See C. Foss,
Ephesus after Antiquity (Cambridge, 1979), 42 f.

[AM 5924, AD 431/2]

Theodosios, 24th year
Vararanes, 17th year
Celestinus, 8 th year
Nestorios, 2nd year
Praylios, 14th year
Cyril, 17th year

John, 9th year

IlIn this year, when Cyril, the bishop of Alexandria, learned of
Nestorios' blasphemies, he wrote begging him and admonishing him
like a brother to refrain from his distorted views and to cling to the
correct faith. But Nestorios replied in a manner that was both insult-
ing and blasphemous. Cyril then wrote to Celestinus, the Pope of
Rome, on the matter of Nestorios and made known to him the blas-
phemous statements that Nestorios had written him. Then
Celestinus wrote to Nestorios giving him a time-limit of ten days to
cease from his blasphemies and repent: but if he remained in his
heresy he would no longer be a priest admitted to communion.
Likewise Celestinus and Cyril wrote to John, archbishop of Antioch,
and to Juvenal of Jerusalem concerning Nestorios and his heresy.’
John wrote to Nestorios, counselling him to abandon his heresy and
reminding him of the saying of the apostle: 'God sent forth his Son
made of a woman’. Nestorios, realizing that the patriarchs would
not be content to pass this over in silence since the churches were
so disturbed, persuaded the emperor to send a rescript to Cyril which
censured him severely,? but though he thought he would strike
Cyril through this, he actually stirred him all the more. Aroused,
Cyril wrote to the emperor and to his sisters about the correct faith
and Nestorios' heresy,* while at the same time requesting that an
ecumenical synod be held to examine canonically the question of
Nestorios.> Then the emperor Theodosios wrote to all the bishops
within his jurisdiction to present themselves at Ephesos without
delay after Easter, ordaining that ‘he who is not present at the synod
in Ephesos on the day of holy Pentecost will have no excuse before
God or us'.° Celestinus of Rome asked Cyril of Alexandria to take
his place at the synod, as he was unable to be present because of the
toilsome navigation in winter. II*

139

AM5931 Chronographia

"Cf. Nik. Kali. xiv. 33-4.

" The correspondence between Cyril, Celestmus and Nestorios, ACO i.
1. 1.23-8, 33-42 (Cyril to Nestorios); i. 1. 5, 10-12, i. 1. 1.7, 171-2 (Cyril to
Celestinus); i. 1. 1.33-34, 113-14, i- 1. 2.37, i. 1. 5.12-13 (Celestine to Cyril),
Nestorios, Epistles, 1-2 to Cyril, 1-3 to Celestine.

* Gal. 4: 4.

3 ACO i. 1. 1.1. 73-4.

* Cyril, Address to the pious emperor Theodosios on the correct faith,
ACO i. 1. 1.42-72, Address to the most pious princesses, ACO i. 1.
5-62-18.

> Cyril in fact seems to have tried to prevent the holding of a synod, see
Holum, Theodosian Empresses, 161-2.

° Theodosios' letter went out on 19 Nov. 430, convoking the synod for 7
June 431.

[AM 5925, AD 432/3]

Theodosios, 25 th year
Vararanes, 18th year
Celestinus, 9th yeair
Nestorios, 3rd year
Praylios, 15th year
Cyril, 18 thyear

John, 10th year

IlIn this year the Third holy and ecumenical Synod of 200 fathers
was assembled in Ephesos.’ Accordingly, when all the [other] bish-
ops had come, John of Antioch and the eastern bishops had not
observed the appointed time-limit and on the sixteenth day after the
appointed one, when John had not yet come, Nestorios arrived with
a good deal of posturing. And on 20 June the synod was convened,
with Nestorios, Cyril, and Juvenal presiding, Cyril taking the place
of the bishop of Rome. While they all discoursed about God,
Nestorios spoke "with great boastfulness', 'I would not name as
divine him who is two or three months old. And for this reason I am
innocent of your blood. From this moment I am not coming back to
you.’ Having made his statement, he left with six bishops who fol-
lowed his doctrine. Cyril's party gathered on the next day and sent
three bishops to summon him, but he refused. Likewise, when he
was summoned a second and third ‘and a fourth’ time, he did not
come, but ordered that the emissaries be insulted and dishonoured.
Then the holy and ecumenical synod, having received its emissaries,
the bishops who had been insulted and dishonoured, decided against
him and stripped him ofall priestly rank. They arranged for his depo-

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Chronographia AM 5867

sition to be announced t o him in person. u° Three days after this was
accomplished, John, bishop of Antioch, arrived accompanied by
twenty-six bishops’ who, having learned of the deposition of
Nestorios, seceded from the holy synod; they assembled with
Nestorios and deposed, as they believed, Cyril and Memnon of
Ephesos. Theodoretos, indeed, thinking to inveigh against Cyril,
having misinterpreted there the twelve chapters,? vomited up
Nestorios' poison. But the sainted Cyril stood up bravely and gave a
defence of those same chapters, interpreting them and revealing the
treasure of church doctrine contained in them and making clear to
everyone his own pious intentions. When John of Antioch had been
called by the holy synod and had refused to present himself for the
third time, he received the verdict that he and his companions were
to be deprived from all ecclesiastical communion, until such time as
they repented and admitted their own error. The holy synod also
decided that the statements made? illegally and uncanonically by
the easterners to insult the most holy leaders of the Church, Cyril
and Memnon, should have no validity whatever.

And so when all these matters had been reported to the emperor
Theodosios in a memorandum, the bishops from both factions were
ordered to come to Constantinople, and having come, those from the
holy synod were victorious with God's co-operation.’ On the confir-
mation of Nestorios' deposition Maximianus was ordained bishop of
Constantinople, being a presbyter of the same church. The eastern-
ers took Nestorios with them to the East. In the fourth year of
Nestorios’ deposition, John the bishop of Antioch, possessed with
the fear of God, and seeing that many of the leading people in
Antioch were being led astray by Nestorios, wrote to the emperor
asking him to expel Nestorios from the East. The emperor banished
Nestorios to the Oasis,° and sent instructions to Cyril and John to be
united without delay in order to free the churches from every dis-
cord. John yielded to the decree and wrote to Cyril [a statement of]
his faith, accepting the confession of the fathers at Nicaea and that
of the 150 at Constantinople and the actions taken at Ephesos. The
holy Cyril welcomed this and wrote a letter to John and the eastern
bishops, which began: 'Let the heavens be pleased and the earth
rejoice.” When both of them had agreed on the same confession,
their respective churches were united in peace and harmony.I 1°

nAt this time the God-bearing Nonnos acted as shepherd for the
church of the Edessenes.” He consecrated to God the foremost mime
of Antioch and offered her to Christ as the holy Pelagia? instead of
her being Margarito the prostitute. This holy man, rejoicing at the
harmony of the saints, wrote to the archbishop John words of advice

141

AM5931 Chronographia

and teaching, among which was this statement, ‘Cleanse the church,
O man of God, from the Nestorian tares and their terrible [effects]'. I 1°
Divine justice followed the impious and blasphemous Nestorios in
exile. After suffering from putrefaction in all his limbs, and above all
in his abominable tongue, he was destroyed by death,”® thus antici-
pating his recall from the Oasis [by being summoned] to another
place. I\

" Cf. Theod. Lect. 329 (95. 8), Sokr. vii. 34, Nik. Kail. xiv. 34. > Cf. Nik. Kail,
xiv. 35, Sokr. vii. 34, Theod. Lect. 329 (95. 9), 526 (152. 19-20 from John
Diakrinomenos), Evagr. i. 5. “Cf. Nik. Kail. xiv. 30, Sokr. vii. 26.

4 Theod. Lect. 528 (153. 1-2 from John Diakrinomenos); cf. Evagr. i. 7.

" Theodosios' summons was for Pentecost (7 June) 431. The synod
opened on 22 June. For discussion see Chadwick, Early Church, 194-200,
Young, From Nicaea, 213-65.

* 43 bishops according to Theodoret, Ep. 12 (PG 83: 1309-ri). They
arrived on 26 (or 27) June.

3 i.e. Cyril's 'Twelve Anathemas'. These were twelve propositions
which had previously been agreed to by an Egyptian synod, and which Cyril
called upon Nestorios to anathematize. For their Apollinarian leanings
(already anathematized at the Second ecumenical Synod), see Frend,
Monophysite Movement, 19.

4 The word XaXrjdevra has dropped out: see J. Duffy, GRBS 21 (19801,261.

> For Cyril's bribes and Pulcheria's guiding influence, see Frend, op. cit.
20. Holum, Theodosian Empresses, 180, refers the bribes to a later occasion.

° ACO i. 1. 3.67-70, dated to 3 Aug. 435 from CTh xvi. 5. 66. The Oasis
of Khargeh is in the Nubian desert on the borders of Upper Egypt.

” Ep. 39, ACO i. 1. 4.15.

8 Duchesne, iii. 392, argued that Nonnos replaced Ibas in 449 rather than
after Ibas' death in 447 (the usual date). Either way Theophanes' date is well
astray.

° A legendary figure attached to the name of the historical St Pelagia
(died c.311). See Pelagie la Penitente, i (Paris, 1981).

AM 5926 [AD 433/4]

Year of the divine Incarnation 426

Theodosios, emperor of the Romans (42 years), 26th year
Vararanes, emperor of the Persians (20 years), 19th year
Celestinus, bishop of Rome (10 years), 10th year
Maximianus, bishop of Constantinople (2 years), 1st year
Praylios, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 16th year

Cyril, bishop of Alexandria (32 years), 19th year

John, bishop of Antioch (18 years), nth year

142

Chronographia AM 5867

IlIn this year Valentinian, the son of Galla Placidia and Constantius,
came from Rome to Constantinople and took for his wife Eudoxia,
the daughter of the emperor Theodosios and Eudokia, and returned
to Rome.Il"

In the same year Hesychios, the presbyter of Jerusalem, died.* And
the blessed Melane, the granddaughter of the elder Melane, died in
Jerusalem after a life spent in spiritual training and [the pursuit of]
perfection.

» Theod. Lect. 332 (95. 15-17); cf. Sokr. vii. 44.

" The date of the marriage is given as 436 by Sokr., 437 by Chron. Pasch.
(29 Oct.) and Marcell. com.

* For Hesychios see AM 5907. He died after 451.

3 Melania died at Bethlehem on 31 Dec. 438 or 439 depending on the
interpretation of Gerontius, V. Mel. and the date of Eudokia's journey to
Jerusalem. See PLRE i. 593 and AM 5927.

[AM 5927, AD 434/5]

Theodosios, 27th year

Vararanes, 20th year

Xystos, bishop of Rome (8 years), 1st year"
Maximianus, 2nd year

Praylios, 17th year

Cyril, 2oth year

John, izthyear

IlIn this year the emperor Theodosios sent his wife Eudokia to
Jerusalem to offer hymns of thanksgiving to God. She bestowed very
many gifts on the churches and, after venerating the holy Cross and
the Holy Places, she returned to the palace. 1”

"Theod. Lect. 334 (95. 23-5); cf. Sokr. vii. 47. Theophanes adds 'venerating the
holy Cross and Holy Places’.

" Xystos (Sixtus) was pope from 31 July 432 to 19 Aug. 440.

* Eudokia met Melania in Jerusalem in the year of Melania's death.
Marcellinus dates the journey to 439, claiming that Eudokia brought back
the relics of St Stephen the protomartyr to Constantinople. Holum,
Theodosian Empresses, 185-8, argues for 438.

143

AM5931 Chronographia

[AM 5928, AD 435/6]

Theodosios, 28th year

Isdigerdes, emperor of the Persians (17 years), 1st year’
Xystos, 2nd year

Proklos, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 1st year
Praylios, 18th year

Cyril, 21st year

John, 13th year

In this year the theatre of Alexandria collapsed with the loss of 572
men during the all-night festival of the Niloa*

" Yazdgerd II ruled from 438 to 457.
* Nothing else is known of this incident. On Theophanes’ Alexandrian
source, see Introduction, IV. 5.

[AM 5929, AD 436/7]

Theodosios, 29th year
Isdigerdes, 2nd year
Xystos, 3rd year
Proklos, 2nd year
Praylios, 19th year
Cyril, 22nd year
John, 14th year

[AM 5930, AD 437/8]

Theodosios, 30th year
Isdigerdes, 3rd year
Xystos, 4th year
Proklos, 3rd year
Praylios, 20th year
Cyril, 23rd year

John, 15th year

Illn this year, Proklos, the most holy bishop of Constantinople, after
seeking permission from the emperor Theodosios, transferred the
relics of John Chrysostom from Komana to the capital.’ In the fol-
lowing year, after 33* years, he took them on a public procession
escorted by the emperor and the blessed Pulcheria, and placed them
in the church of the Apostles, thus uniting those who had been sep-
arated following his deposition from the Church. 1°

IIIn the time of the same holy Proklos, severe earthquakes

144

Chronographia AM 5867

occurred in Constantinople lasting for four months so that the
Byzantines fled in fear from the city to the Campus,’ as it is called,
and they spent the days in procession with the bishop in supplica-
tion to God. On one occasion while the earth was swaying and all
the people were chanting earnestly, ‘Lord, have mercy,’ suddenly at
about the third hour, before the eyes of all, a youth happened to be
lifted by divine power into the air and to hear a divine voice order-
ing him to tell the bishop and the people to say the following [words]
in their litany, 'God, who art holy [and] strong, holy [and] immortal,
have mercy upon us,’ and to add nothing extra. The sainted Proklos
accepted this decree and ordered the people to sing in that way and
immediately the earthquake stopped.* The blessed Pulcheria and her
brother, marvelling exceedingly at this miracle, issued a decree that
this divine hymn was to be sung throughout the whole world. And
from that time all the churches have accepted the custom of singing
it to God each day. Il

* Theod. Lect. 333 (95. 18-22); cf. Sokr. vii. 45. > Cf. Nik. Kail. xiv. 46; Kedr.
599-600; Geo. Mon. 604-5; Patiia, 150 (Preger); Syn. CP 79-80. These are probably all
derived from Theod. Lect. See H. G. Opitz, RE 5 A (1934), 1874, ‘Theodorus’ 48. Cf.
also Mich. Syr. ii. 11.

" Proklos sought permission in 437 and the deposition occurred on 28 Jan.
438. Other sources are Theod. HE v. 36, Marcell. com. 438, Proklos, Or. 20
[PG 65: 827-34)-

* 35 years in Theod. Lect. and Sokr. Theophanes includes details, notably
the presence of the emperor and Pulcheria, which are not in Theod. Lect. or
Sokr., again suggesting that there is an intermediate source. Cf. Mich. Syr.
ii. 11, who includes the emperor and Pulcheria, and Ps.-Dion 158, who does
not.

3 ie. the suburban palace by the parade ground seven milestones from
Constantinople, used for imperial proclamations and addresses to troops.
See Janin, CP 139-40, R. Demangel, Contribution a la topographie de
u'Hebdomon (Paris, 1945).

* The earliest surviving version of the story is by Pope Felix (438-92) in a
letter to Peter of Antioch to show that the Trishagion had divine approval [Ep.
3, PL 58: 909-10). Though closer to the event Nestorios in exile had written
that God was sending earthquakes until the Trishagion was adopted (Bazaar,
364). See B. Croke, Byz 51 (1981), 127-31. The liturgical commemoration of
this was on 25 Sept. Theophanes has placed the account after the deposition
of Chrysostom’'s relics (Jan. 438) so the date may well be Sept. 438 rather than
Theophanes' 437. See B. Croke, art. cit. 130 following A. Schneider's sugges-
tion that the impossible date in the Patria (the fifth year of Theodosios) has
been corrupted from 'the fifth year of Proklos' (ie. Apr. 438-Apr. 439). See
alsoHolum, Theodosian Empresses, 189. Mich. Syr. links the four months of
earthquakes to John Chrysostom’'s exile. Cf. AM 5900, n. 1.

145

AM 5931 Chronographia

AM 5931 [AD 438/9]

Year of the divine Incarnation 431

Theodosios, emperor of the Romans (43 years), 31st year
Isdigerdes, emperor of the Persians (17 years), 4th year
Xystos, bishop of Rome (8 years), 5 th year

Proklos, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 4th year
Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem (38 years), 1st year

Cyril, bishop of Alexandria (32 years), 24th year

John, bishop of Antioch (18 years), 15th year

IllIn this year Valentinian was not only unable to preserve Britain,
Gaul, and Spain, ll” but even lost in addition western’ Libya, called
the land of the Africans,’ in the following manner. There were two
generals, Aetios and Boniface, whom Theodosios sent to Rome at
Valentinian's request.* When Boniface obtained the governorship of
western Libya, Aetios, in envy, brought an accusation’ against him
of plotting a rebellion and aiming to gain control of Libya. He alleged
these things to Valentinian's mother Placidia, but also wrote to
Boniface as follows, 'If you are summoned back, do not come. For
you have been slandered and the emperors intend to capture you by
trickery.’ After Boniface received this, he did not come when sum-
moned for he trusted Aetios as a true friend. The emperors there-
upon accepted Aetios as being loyal.I\?

u There were at that time numerous extremely large Gothic tribes
living beyond the Danube in the districts to the far north. Of these,
four are particularly worthy of note, namely the Goths, the
Visigoths, the Gepids, and the Vandals, who differ from one another
in name alone and speak the same dialect. They all subscribe to the
Arian heresy.° After crossing the Danube in the time of Arkadios
and Honorius, they were settled on Roman territory. The Gepids,
from whom the Lombards and Avars were later derived, settled in
the area around Singidunum’ and Sermium.® The Visigoths, after
destroying Rome under Alaric,? went to Gaul and gained control of
territory there.II* The Goths first took Pannonia and later, in the
19th year of the rule of Theodosios the younger’ and with his per-
mission, they settled in the region of Thrace!\ and, after staying in
Thrace for 58 years," they gained control over the Western Empire
under the leadership of Theuderich, patrician and consul, Zeno hav-
ing allowed them to do so.ll° The Vandals, in association with the
Alans and the Germans, who are now called Franks, after crossing
the Rhine under the leadership of Godigisklos, settled in Spain,”
which isthefirst country in Europe this side of the western Ocean. 1

llBoniface, in fear of the Roman emperors, crossed from Libya to

146

Chronographia AM 5867

Spain and came to the Vandals.” Discovering that Godigisklos had
died and that the rule had passed to his sons Gontharis and Gizerich,
he roused them by promising that he would divide western’ Libya
into three parts on condition that each (including himself) would
rule a third part” and that they would combine in defence against
any enemy whatever. Under these terms, the Vandals crossed the
strait’® and settled in Libya from the Ocean as far as Tripolis beside
Cyrene.” The Visigoths, setting out from Gaul also gained control
of Spain. Some Roman senators, who were friends of Boniface,
reported to Placidia that Aetios' accusation was false, even showing
her Aetios' letter to Boniface, which Boniface had sent them.
Placidia was astonished but did not harm Aetios. She did, however,
send a missive of encouragement to Boniface, supported by oaths.
On Gontharis' death” Gizerich became sole ruler of the Vandals.
Boniface, having received the assurance, campaigned against the
Vandals, with a large army that had come to help him from Rome
and Byzantium under the command of Aspar. War against Gizerich
broke out and the Roman army was defeated. And so Boniface came
to Rome with Aspar, dispelled the suspicion, and revealed the truth;
but Africa came under the control of the Vandals. It was then that
Marcian, who later became emperor but was at the time a soldier
serving Aspar, was captured alive by Gizerich. u«”

* Prok. BV i. 2. 31. > Prok. BV i. 3. 12-21. © Prok. BV i. 2. 1-13.
4 Prok. BVi. 2. 39. * Prok. BVi. 2. 40; cf. AM 5977. * Prok. BVi. 3. 1-2.
* Prok. BVi. 3. 22-4. 1.

* Prok.'s version in fact refers to the reign of Honorius when, in 407,
Constantine (cf. AM 5903) usurped power in Britain and invaded Spain and
Gaul (in that order), where he died after suffering a defeat. For a reliable
account, see Bury, HLRE* i. 188-94. Theophanes' date for this entry, how-
ever, has been deduced from Prok. BV ii. 3. 26 (see AM 6026, n. 51), who
stated that the Vandals ruled Africa for 95 years, i.e. until Belisarius' victory
in 534 (AM 6026). Prok., however, was calculating from the fall of Carthage
in 439, not from the crossing to Africa, so Theophanes has some justifica-
tion for his statement.

* Prok. has simply ‘Libya’ here and ‘all Libya’ just below. Perhaps
Theophanes misread airaoa (all) as eWepict (western). The remainder of the
paragraph is a competent precis of Prok., apart from two additions which
Theophanes may have felt necessary. See nn. 3 and 4.

3 'Called the land of the Africans’ appears to be Theophanes' addition
which may have been necessary for a gth-cent. audience, although he does
refer to Libya three times after the 6th cent, (AM 6107, 6298, 6301).

4 The relative clause appears to be Theophanes' invention. The careers of
both Aetios and Boniface (the 'whom' is plural) were entirely in the West,

147

AM 5810 Chronographia

though Boniface may have owed his appointment as comes Africae (423/4)
to Theodosios. See PLRE ii. 238.

> In 427. See PLRE ii. 239.

® Prok. has ‘Arian faith’.

7 Modern Belgrade.

8 Modern Sremska Mitrovica in the former Yugoslavia.

° Cf. AM 5895, 5903.

** Prok. does not give a date or name the emperor, but simply has 'after-
wards’. Theophanes' date is 426/7 and it is by no means clear what his evi-
dences for this is, though it is characteristic of him to devise a precise date.
It is possible that he has connected it with his next event, Boniface's appeal
for aid, which Prosper Tiro dated to 427 (429 in most sources). In fact
Theodosios I agreed to the Goths crossing from Pannonia and settling in
Thrace in Oct. 382.

“ This appears to be Theophanes' own unfortunate deduction. Prok. sim-
ply has 'After spending no great time there, they conquered the West. But
this will be told in the narrative concerning the Goths.' Theophanes, who
appears to know only the Vandal and Persian Wars and not the Gothic War,
has identified it with Theuderich Amal's move to Italy which he dates to AM
5977. This in turn has enabled him to improve on Prok.'s vague 'no great
time’ with a precise 58 years from the 19th year of Theodosios II. Cf. AM
6026, where Theophanes appears to confuse Theuderich Amal with a
Visigothic king of Spain.

* Theophanes follows Prok., who unfortunately got it wrong. Godigisk-
los may have led the Vandals from Pannonia towards the Rhine but was
killed shortly before the Vandals invaded Gaul at the end of 406. It was
Godigisklos' son Gontharis (Gunderic) who led the Vandals into Gaul and
later to Spain (before 418). See PLRE ii. 516, 522.

® In 427 [PLRE ii. 239).

“ Again Theophanes has added ‘western’. Here Prok. has no epithet.

° There is no support for this in other sources. On the supposedly com-
mon allocation of a third of the land by Romans to barbarian invaders, see
W. Goffart, Barbarians and Romans, A.D. 4r8-sS4 (Princeton, 1980),
58-102.

‘7 Theophanes has added 'from the Ocean . . . Cyrene’.

8 Probably in 428 and before the crossing into Africa.

® Cf. AM 5943.

[am 5932, AD 439/40]

Theodosios, 32nd year
Isdigerdes, 5 th year
Xystos, 6th year
Proklos, 5 th year
Juvenal, 2nd year

148

Chronographia AM 5867

Cyril, 25 thyear
John, 17th year

In this year the holy martyr Euphemia was translated to Alexandria
on the sixth day before the kalends of October.’

' 26 Sept. For the Alexandrian source, see Introduction. However
Euphemia's church was at Chalcedon and her ‘uncorrupted body' was there
until the Persian atacks in the early 7th cent. See F. Halkin, Euphemie de
Chalcedoine (Brussels, 1965).

AM 5933, ad 440/11]

Theodosios, 33rd year
Isdigerdes, 6th year
Xystos, 7thyear
Proklos, 6thyear
Juvenal, 3rd year
Cyril, 26th year

John, 18thyear

In this year the Kantharos, which is a bath in Alexandria, was com-
pleted.’

I]Some monks who came to Constantinople caused the emperor
much annoyance by bringing a posthumous charge of heresy against
Theodore who had been bishop of Mopsuestia. The emperor
instructed Proklos to write to the bishops of the East to make an
inquiry and, if they were right, to anathematize Theodore. John of
Antioch, with the support of his synod, replied to Proklos and the
emperor, testifying to Theodore's orthodoxy. il"

< Theod. Lect. 338-9 (96. 11-97.

‘ For the Alexandrian source, see Introduction.
* Theophanes has 'emperor' for Theod. Lect.'s ‘emperors’ and so ‘corrects’
Theod. Lect.'s 'they’ to 'the emperor’.

[am 5934, AD 441/2]

Theodosios, 34th year
Isdigerdes, 7thyear
Xystos, 8th year
Proklos, 7th year
Juvenal, 4th year

149

AM5947 Chronogra phia

Cyril, 27th year
Domnus, bishop of Antioch (8 years), ist year

In this year the earth was shaken and groaned on the fifteenth day
before the kalends of May.’

* 17 Apr. As Theophanes is making considerable use of his Alexandrian
source in these years, the earthquake may refer to Alexandria. It could have
been the same one which occurred in Crete during Theodosios' reign (Mai.
359). As Dr Martine Henry points out to us, the Delta, although not a zone
of epicentres, is affected by Mediterranean earthquakes having their epicen-
tres near the deep troughs south of Crete and south-east of Rhodes. The
tremors can be strong enough to damage buildings, which is not surprising
in an alluvionic area. Dr Henry also suggests that Evagr. ii. 14 (earthquakes
affecting Knidos and Crete) may refer to the same set of seismic events with
Evagr. picking up the wrong fire in Constantinople (465 instead of 433).
Grumel's reference, 477, to an earthquake in Rome in this year appears to
be without foundation.

[AM 5935, AD 442/3]

Theodosios, 35th year

Isdigerdes, 8th year

Leo, bishop of Rome (21 years), 1st year’
Proklos, 8th year

Juvenal, 5th year

Cyril, 28th year

Domnus, 2nd year

In this year Charmosynos, the augustalis in Alexandria, was struck
in the face at the Kynegion and died on the ist of the month of
Epiphi.*

* Leo (the Great) was pope from 29 Sept. 440 to 10 Nov. 461.
* 25 June. This is the only evidence for Charmosynos.

[AM 5936, AD 443/4]

Theodosios, 36th year
Isdigerdes, 9th year
Leo, 2nd year
Proklos, 9th year
Juvenal, 6thyear
Cyril, 29thyear
Domnus, 3rd year

150

Chronographia AM 5867

IllIn this year the emperor Theodosios made priest the praepositus
and patrician Antiochos, who was also his bajulus, and confiscated
his house on the grounds that he had disparaged the emperor and dis-
regarded him.’ For this reason he introduced a law that no eunuch
was to rise to the rank of patrician. 0°

* Mai. 361. 1-13. Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 16. Also AM 5905(b) for Theophanes' alternative
dating of Antiochos' departure.

" PLRE ii. 102, Antiochus 5, dates the dismissal to 421 following Zonaras

that it took place shortly after Theodosios' marriage to Eudokia. Blockley,
FCH ii, 381, cf. i. 117, suggests the error may have arisen from a link in
Priscus with the fall of Kyros (implying that Theophanes' source was not
Malalas but some lost user of Priscus). J. Bardill and G. Greatrex, DOP 50
(i996), linking it with Kyros' City Prefecture (439-41 or 439-43), date
Antiochos' fall to 439 with tentative support from archaeological evidence.
Malalas places it after the death of Valentinian in 455, his previous datable
event being the death of Hypatia in 415. Theophanes, making the link with
Kyros' fall (AM 5937), has perhaps simply placed this in the year preceding
his and Malalas' next notice.

AM 5937 [AD 444/5]

Year of the divine Incarnation 437

Theodosios, emperor of the Romans (42 years), 37th year
Isdigerdes, emperor of the Persians (17 years), 10th year
Leo, bishop of Rome (21 years), 3rd year

Proklos, bishop of Constantinople (r2 years), 10th year
Juvenal, bishop of Alexandria (38 years), 7th year

Cyril, bishop of Alexandria (32 years), 30th year
Domnus, bishop of Antioch (8 years), 4th year

IlIn this year Kyros, the City prefect and praetorian prefect, a very
learned and competent man, who had both built the city walls’ and
restored all Constantinople, was acclaimed by the Byzantines in the
Hippodrome, in the presence and hearing of the emperor [as follows],
‘Constantine built [the city], Kyros restored it.' The emperor became
angry that they said this about him and, alleging that Kyros was a
pagan, he removed him from office and confiscated his property.
Kyros fled to the church and himself became a priest. The emperor,
feeling compassion towards him, ordered that he be made bishop of
Smyrna in Asia.* He arrived just before Christmas and the people of
Smyrna, suspecting that he was a pagan, wanted to kill him. But
when he had entered the church and been invited to address the con-
gregation, he said, ‘Brother men, may the birth of God our Saviour

151

AM 5947 Chronogra phia

Jesus Christ be honoured in silence since the Word of God was con-
ceived in the holy Virgin by hearing alone. Glory be to Him for ever
and ever. Amen."”* The congregation rejoiced and praised him and he
served piously as their bishop. I \*

"Mai. 361. 14-362. 18, Chron. Pasch. 588. 6-589. 5 (a.450).

* Kyros did not build (or rebuild) the city walls. He has been confused
with the praetorian prefect Constantine (PLRE ii. 317, Constantinus 22),
who oversaw the reconstruction of the land walls which had been damaged
in 447: see Dagron, Naissance, 270. He was, however, responsible for much
building work in Constantinople, including a system of street lighting, the
Baths of Achilles, and a church of the Theotokos in the district later known
as Ta Kyrou. See PLRE ii. 337-8, Cyrus 7. Again the original source may be
Priscus apart from the final anecdote. See Blockley, FCH i. 116, ii. 381.

* So too Chron. Pasch., the Slavonic Mai., and John of Nikiu, but in fact
Kotyaeion, in Phrygia. So the V. Dan. Styl. 3r and Mai.

3 Much has been written on this sermon. See K. Holum, Theodosian
Empresses, 193; A. D. E. Cameron, YCS 27 (1982), 243-5; T. E. Gregory,
GRBS 16 (1975), 317-24; B. Baldwin, Vigiliae Christianae, 36 (1982), 169-72.
Its point of reference is the notion that the Virgin Mary conceived Christ
through hearing the Logos, an idea which the then patriarch Proklos had
apparently made popular since he refers to it in his first seven sermons (PG

65: 679-763).

[AM 5938, AD 445/6]

Theodosios, 38th year
Isdigerdes, nth year
Leo, 4th year

Proklos, 1ith year
Juvenal, 8th year
Cyril, 31st year
Domnus, 5thyear

IIIn this year another John, called the Vandal, rebelled against
Valentinian in Rome.’ Theodosios sent out a force under the gener-
als Aspar and Ardabourios, who fought John in battle and defeated
him.1I* John, after receiving a pledge, gave himself up alive, and they
brought him to the emperor Theodosios and arranged for him to be
treated honourably. But Chrysaphios, a eunuch who had great influ-
ence in the palace, killed him by treachery. However, justice caught
up with Chrysaphios not much later. 1°

" Cf. AM 5915. > Cf. Marcell. com. a.441; Chron. Pasch. 583. 12 (a.441); Joh.
Ant., frg. 206.

152

Chronographia AM 5867

* Both here and at AM 5943 Theophanes has confused John, Augustus
423-5 (see AM 5913) with John the Vandal, magister utriusque militiae of
Thrace in 441. See PLRE ii. 594-5, Ioannes 6 and 13. Nik. Kail. xiv. 7
describes John as a Goth, but there is no other evidence for his being either
Goth or Vandal.

[AM 5939, aD 446/7]

Theodosios, 39 th year
Isdigerdes, 12 th year
Leo, 5 th year

Proklos, 12 th year
Juvenal, oth year
Cyril, 32nd year
Domnus, 6 th year

Illn this year Cyril of Alexandria and Proklos of Constantinople died
piously.’ Proklos was succeeded by Flavian, the presbyter and sac-
ristan of the church of Constantinople, a most holy and virtuous
man. But Cyril was succeeded by the impious Dioskoros, who was
in no respect a teacher but wild and savage, especially towards
Cyril's family, so that he even converted their house into a church
though it rose to a great height and had three storeys at the top. 1°

"Theod. Lect. 342,-3 (97. 11-18); cf. Nik. Kali. xiv. 47. Theophanes has rearranged
the material carefully.

* On 27 June 444 and 12 July 446 respectively.

AM 5940 [AD 447/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 440

Theodosios, emperor of the Romans (42 years), 40th year
Isdigerdes, emperor of the Persians (17 years), 13th year
Leo, bishop of Rome (21 years), 6th year

Flavian, bishop of Constantinople (2 years), 1st year
Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem (38 years), 10th year
Dioskoros, bishop of Alexandria (5 years), 1st year
Domnus, bishop of Antioch (8 years), 7th year

Illn this year Chrysaphios, a eunuch who exercised power over the
palace and the emperor Theodosios and who was jealous of Flavian
for his ordination, suggested to the emperor, who was quite innocent
and was staying at Chalcedon, that he should instruct the patriarch

153

AM5962, Chronographia

to send him eulogiai on the occasion of his appointment. So Flavian
sent him pure loaves by way of eulogiai. But Chrysaphios returned
these, declaring that the emperor wanted eulogiai of gold. The
bishop stated in reply that he did not have any money to send,
‘unless I use some of the sacred vessels'.' On this account there was
a considerable feeling of grievance between them, though Pulcheria
was not informed of it.

Such were the events in Constantinople. But in Alexandria
Dioskoros had from the very beginning set about ruining Cyril's
family and plundering their property and deposed without cause his
nephew Athanasios who was a presbyter, and entirely confiscated
his goods.* He behaved in this way out of opposition to Cyril's ortho-
doxy, being himself a heretic and holding the views of Origen from
his earliest youth. And he was at loggerheads with Flavian because
Flavian had provided some small support for the family of the
blessed Cyril.

Chrysaphios, being impious and not suffering to see harmony
among the churches, made it his purpose to disturb them and did all
he could to expel Flavian from his bishopric, in the hope that a cer-
tain Eutyches, an archimandrite of his own persuasion, would be
elected to the bishop's office.* Having failed in this, since Pulcheria
was in control of affairs, he first approached Eudokia, who lacked
experience, and roused her to envy against her own mother and sug-
gested to her that she abuse Pulcheria to the emperor with a view to
obtaining the praepositus,* whom Pulcheria necessarily kept since
she controlled the management of affairs. The emperor, vexed by his
wife, summoned her and said, 'Do not let this trouble you, for it is
impossible for you to have a praepositus, nor am | going to set aside
my sister who manages affairs with excellence, skill and piety.’
Unsuccessful in this ploy, Chrysaphios followed with another and
suggested to Eudokia that she trouble the emperor into ordering the
patriarch to appoint Pulcheria a deacon since she had chosen a life of
virginity. And so Eudokia, by troubling the emperor all the more, got
the better of his innocence. When the blessed Flavian® was ordered
by the emperor to do this, he was greatly distressed as he foresaw the
difficulties that would spring from such action. So he both made a
promise to the emperor and also wrote to Pulcheria advising her not
to receive him into her presence 'so that I am not compelled,’ he
added 'to do anything that will annoy you.’ But she, realizing from
the letter what was being plotted, handed over the praepositus to
Eudokia and departed to the Hebdomon’® where she took her rest. As
a result of this, the emperor and Eudokia were extremely annoyed
with Flavian for revealing the secret.

154

Chronographia AM 5867

So with Pulcheria staying quiet and Eudokia directing the Empire,
something like this happened. 1°” A certain Paulinus, the magister,
was greatly loved by Eudokia for being very educated and handsome
and she used to meet him frequently in private. And so on Christmas
Day,® someone brought to the emperor a large and marvellous apple.
After admiring it, the emperor sent it to Eudokia who sent it to
Paulinus. Two days later Paulinus sent it to the emperor. Recogniz-
ing it, the emperor hid it, went away, and asked the Augusta, 'By my
salvation, where is the apple I sent you?’ She replied 'By your salva-
tion, I have eaten it.' Then, moved to anger, he ordered that the apple
be brought in and that Paulinus be exiled to Cappadocia and exe-
cuted there. 1

u Eusebios the scholasticus, who was mentioned earlier as the first
person to tackle Nestorios, after being promoted to the bishopric of
Dorylaion,” happened to be conversing about the faith with the
archimandrite Eutyches, and discovered that his views were not cor-
rect. After admonishing him at length, he was unable to help him.
So Eusebios raised the matter with bishop Flavian who, after gather-
ing a synod of 40 bishops summoned Eutyches, and after examining
him according to the whole procedure of the ecclesiastical canons,
found that he was a deceitful heretic and so deposed him.” But
when Chrysaphios, his sympathizer, who controlled the palace,
learned about this, he was fired to anger against Flavian all the more,
and announced to Dioskoros of Alexandria that he would co-operate
with him in all his wishes if he would concur in accusations against
Flavian and Eusebios and fight on behalf of Eutyches. He stirred up
the Augusta Eudokia over this reminding her, to Flavian's detri-
ment, of her painful experiences regarding Pulcheria. And the pair of
them pressed the emperor into decreeing that a second synod be
assembled in Ephesos,” and they allowed Dioskoros to be the pres-
ident of the synod,”? sending a large army to assist him.!1°*

° Cf. Nik. Kail. xiv. 47. > Mai. 356. 17-337-17; cf. Chron. Pasch. 584. 5-585.
3. © Cf. Evagr. i. 9.

" The account also occurs in Evagr. ii. 2.

* He used the money so extorted to attempt to win popularity by distrib-
uting bread and wine. See Holum, Theodosian Empresses, 198.

3 Eutyches was Chrysaphios' baptismal sponsor and so had influence over

him. Nestorios, Bazaar of Heracleides, in F. Nau, tr., Le Livre d'Heraclide de

Damas (Paris, 1910], 295; Liberatus, Brev. ii (ACO ii. 5. 11. 4).

* i.e. praepositus cubiculi augustae, the chamberlain largely responsible
for financial arrangements: see Jones, LRE i. 425-6. Holum, Theodosian
Empresses, suggests such a position was introduced c.421-3.

155

100

AM5962, Chronographia

> This must have occurred while Eudokia was in Constantinople, and
thus before 443 after which she remained in Jerusalem. Holum, 191, suggests
441, arguing that Theophanes wrongly counted Theodosios' regnal years
from 408 instead of 402. Holum also suggests that Proklos, an ally of
Pulcheria, will have been in Theophanes' source but 'thinking the year was
447, he felt obligated to insert Flavian instead’.

® On the Hebdomon see AM 5930, n. 3.

7 Nik. Kail., who provides the only parallel we have for the whole of ‘a’ (a
long section), probably derived his material from Theophanes. The subject-
matter is of a kind that Theophanes is most likely to have derived from
Theod. Lect.

5 Or else Epiphany (6 Jan.), it often being difficult to decide to which of
the two feasts theophaneia refers.

° The conventional date for this incident is 443, assuming that is also the
date of Eudokia's final departure for Jerusalem. A. D. E. Cameron, YCS 27
(1981), 217-89, argues that Eudokia left for Jerusalem in 440 before Kyros'
fall. Theophanes (with Nik. Kail. xiv. 23. 48) is the only source to add that
Paulinus was executed in Cappadocia.

® Cf. AM 5923d. Dorylaion (modern Eski§ehir), on the river Tembris in
Phrygia Salutaris.

" Eusebios' accusation was made on 8 Sept. 448; the trial opened on 12
Nov. and Eutyches was excommunicated on 22 Nov.

* Theodosios' letter of 30 Mar. 449 convened a general synod for August
in Ephesos.

2 ACO ii. 1. 1.74. 51.

4 ACO ii. 1. 1.75-6. See Holum, Theodosian Empresses, 201-2.

[AM 5941, AD 448/9]

Theodosios, 41st year
Isdigerdes, 14th year
Leo, 7thyear

Flavian, 2nd year
Juvenal, nth year
Dioskoros, 2nd year
Domnus, 8th year

IlIn this year, at the command of the emperor Theodosios, the
Robber Synod’ was illegally convened in Ephesos so that the affair of
Flavian and Eutyches would be judged by the impious Dioskoros, on
the recommendation of Chrysaphios the eunuch, surnamed
Tzoumas, who had prevailed upon the emperor's simplicity. When
they had all gathered at Ephesos, Dioskoros as president did not
allow any other secretary to be present in the synod but caused his
own secretaries alone to write down the proceedings. And so, after

156

Chronographia AM5867

an inquiry had taken place, Eutyches was required to elucidate his
own views, to which he replied by saying, 'I confess that before the
union our Lord consisted of two natures, but after the union I con-
fess one nature.’ Then Dioskoros said, 'We also all agree with this.’
The delegates of Pope Leo of Rome, on seeing Dioskoros' haste and
because he did not allow the pope's letter to Flavian to be read, nor
indeed his letter to the synod (which were disregarded), fled and
went back to Rome. Dioskoros restored the priesthood to Eutyches
and readily deposed Eusebios of Dorylaion and Flavian of
Constantinople. Flavian, in addition to being deposed, was driven
out with kicks and blows from Dioskoros' people and on the third
day departed from this life.*

On the next day under pressure from the soldiers and their swords
the bishops were compelled to sign. But on regaining his senses,
Domnus, bishop of Antioch, who had signed under pressure,
opposed Dioskoros and the rulers by denouncing what had been
done, describing the synod as impious and seeking to withdraw his
signature.I \* When he learned of this, Pope Leo approached the
emperor Valentinian and the empresses and in tears begged that let-
ters be sent to the emperor Theodosios to correct the illegal and
uncanonical actions taken in Ephesos.* Theodosios replied to his
daughter Eudoxia as follows: 'I wish to make this known to your
Sweetness that Flavian was banished by the holy decision of the
churches for being responsible for many disturbances.'! I°

IIDioskoros deposed Theodoret, Ibas, Andrew, Domnus_ of
Antioch, and other eastern bishops in their absence.] 1“*

uThe emperor Theodosios was easily swayed, carried by every
wind, so that he often signed papers unread. Among these even the
most wise Pulcheria inserted unread a donation ceding his wife
Eudokia to slavery, which he signed and for which he was severely
reproached by Pulcheria.1

I lln the same year? Gizerich, who had become powerful among the
Vandal people, described himself as king® after gaining control of
land, sea, and many islands which had been tributary to the Romans.
This grieved Theodosios and so he sent out’ eleven hundred cargo
ships with a Roman army commanded by the generals Areobindos,
Ansilas, Inobindos, Arintheos, and Germanus. Gizerich was struck
with fear when this force moored in Sicily and he sent an embassy
to Theodosios to discuss a treaty. I1®

2 Cf. Evagr. ii. 1, Nik. Kail. 158 xiv. 47, Theod. Lect. 347 (98. 28-31). b Cf:
Nik. Kail. xiv. 49. ¢ Theod. Lect. 347 (98. 31-99. 9); cf. Chron. Edess. 7. 25-8.
4 Theod. Lect. 352 (99. 22-100. 3); cf. Geo. Mon. 505. 10. e Cf. Nik. Kail. xiv.

57, Mich. Syr. ii. 26, Prosp. Tiro a.441 [Chron. Min. i. 478).

157

101

102

AM5962, Chronographia

* The Robber Synod (otherwise Ephesos II), so called from Leo's letter to
Pulcheria [Ep. 95) in which he describes it as non iudicium, sed latrocinium
because of its violence, took place in Aug. 449. See Chadwick, Early Church
200-2.

* At Hypaipa in Lydia. It was reported at the Council of Chalcedon that
Flavian had been killed. See J. Chadwick, JTS NS 6/1 (1955), 17-34-

3 Leo's letters, PL 54: 593-1218.

* ie. Theodoret of Cyrrhus and Ibas of Edessa. The identification of
Andrew is unclear, and he is not listed in other sources, apart from Theod.
Lect. The others were Daniel of Harran, Sophronios of Telia, Irenaios of
Tyre, and Aquilinus of Byblos.

> This and AM 5942 are Theophanes' only items on Africa which are inde-
pendent of Prok.'s BV.

° He had been king of the Vandals since 428. He led the Vandal invasion
of Proconsular Africa in late 439. See PLRE ii. 457.

7 In 441.

8 Cf. AM 5942¢. In 442 Gizerich made peace with Valentinian III (emperor
in Rome 425-55), and secured a further division of Africa.

[AM 5 942, AD 449/50]

Theodosios, 42nd year

Isdigerdes, 15th year

Leo, 8th year

Anatolios, bishop of Constantinople (9 years), 1st year
Juvenal, 12th year

Dioskoros, 3rd year

Maximus, bishop of Antioch (3 years), 1st year

IIIn this year Theodosios, after collecting his thoughts, realized that
he had been deceived by Chrysaphios' villainy, and grieved over the
unholy treatment of Flavian and the injustice to the other bishops.
In great anger he first banished Chrysaphios’ to an island and then
inveighed severely against Eudokia, naming her as responsible for all
the evils and in particular for driving Pulcheria from the palace and
also reproaching her over the affair of Paulinus. She in despair asked
to be sent away to Jerusalem. So, taking with her the presbyter
Severus and John the deacon, she went to Jerusalem.* When the
emperor learned that these men had frequented her in
Constantinople and were with her in Jerusalem, and that she
bestowed on them many gifts, he sent orders that they should be
beheaded. Then the emperor, after earnestly beseeching the blessed
Pulcheria, brought her back to the palace. She immediately sent to
Ephesos to bring back the relics of the holy Flavian. Accompanied by
an escort, she carried these along the Mese and buried them in the

158

Chronographia AM5867

Holy Apostles. u* Then she built the church of the Coppermarket for
the holy Mother of God, which had previously been a Jewish syna-
gogue. II°3

1 While the fleet was waiting in Sicily, as we have mentioned,* for
the arrival of Gizerich's ambassadors and the emperor's commands,
Attila, in the meantime, overran Thrace. He was the son of
Moundios, a Scythian, a brave and arrogant man who, after getting
rid of his elder brother Bdellas, became sole ruler of the empire of the
Scythians whom they call Huns.’ It was on his account above all
that Theodosios made a treaty with Gizerich and recalled the fleet
from Sicily. He sent out Aspar with his force together with
Areobindos and Argagisklos against Attila, who had already subdued
Ratiaria, Naissos, Philippoupolis, Arkadioupolis, Constantia,° and
very many other towns, and had collected vast amounts of booty and
many prisoners. After the generals had been thoroughly defeated in
the battles, Attila advanced to both seas, to that of Pontos and to
that which flows by Kallipolis and Sestos,’ enslaving every city and
fort except Adrianople and Herakleia,® which was once called
Peirinthos, so that he came as far as the fort of Athyras’ itself. So
Theodosios was compelled to send an embassy to Attila and to pro-
vide 6,000 pounds of gold to secure his retreat, and also to agree to
pay an annual tribute of 1,000 pounds of gold for him to remain at
peace.ll°°

IIA short while after the Roman army had returned from the war
against Attila, the emperor Theodosios died on 20 July in the 3rd
indiction.II™ Theblessed Pulcheria, before the emperor's death was
known to anyone, summoned Marcian, a man distinguished by his
prudence and dignity and now old and very capable, and said to him,
‘Since the emperor has died, and I have chosen you from the whole
Senate for being a virtuous man, give me your word that you will
guard my virginity, which I have dedicated to God, and I shall pro-
claim you emperor.’ When he had promised this, she summoned the
patriarch and the Senate and proclaimed him emperor of the
Romans.||®'?

"Cf. Nik. Kail. xiv. 49. ® Cf. Theod. Lect. 363 (102. 23-5), Geo. Mon. 498.
13. “ Priscus, frg. 9. 4, restored from Theophanes. Cf. Nik. Kail. xiv. 57.
4 Cf. Nik. Kali. xiv. 58. ° Cf. Geo. Mon. 504. 14.

Certainly false’ according to PLRE ii. 296, but rightly defended as pos-
sible by Holum, Theodosian Empresses, 207 n. 195.

> Most probably in 443. Cf. AM 5940, n. 5.

3 Cf. AM 6069, where it is claimed that Justin II also built a church of the
Theotokos in the Coppermarket in place of a synagogue. See Ebersolt,

159

103

104

AM 5942 Chionogiaphia

Sanctuaiies, 44-60, Janin, Eglises, 237-42, Mathews, Churches, 28-33. Cf.
also AM 5943 for Pulcheria's churches.

4 Cf. 594ie. The date is 441/2.

> Probably in 445. Bdellas is usually known as Bleda.

° Ratiaria, in Upper Moesia on the Danube, is usually identified with
Arzar-Palanca; Naissos is Nis, Philippoupolis is Plovdiv; Arkadioupolis,
Liileburgaz; Constantia, Constanta.

7 Gelibolu (Gallipoli) and Eceabat.

8 Edirne and Marmara Ereglisi. ° Biiyiik gekmece.

"© In fact the annual tribute was raised to 2,100 lbs. of gold, trebling the
earlier tribute, which had already been doubled by Attila shortly after his
accession. See Jones, LRE i. 193.

"28 July according to (?) Theod. Lect. in PG 86/1: 214-15. But the year
is correct both by AM and indiction, which is notable given the peculiarities
of Theophanes' dates for Theodosios' reign.

* Marcell. com. and Chron. Pasch. say Theodosios told Marcian he
would succeed as emperor. Sources vary as to whether Pulcheria, the Senate,
or the patriarch crowned Marcian (Bury, HLRE’ i. 236), but Chron. Pasch.
gives the date as 26 Aug., i.e. a month after Theodosios’ death. Stein, BE i.
311 suggests the influence of Aspar. Cf. AM 59436 and 5940, n. 1. Marcian's
age at accession was 58 (see Chron. Pasch. 592; he died aged 65).

AM 5943 [AD 4So/L]

Year of the divine Incarnation 443

Marcian, emperor of the Romans (7 years), 1st year
Isdigerdes, emperor of the Persians (17 years), 16th year
Leo, bishop of Rome (21 years), 9th year

Anatolios, bishop of Constantinople (9 years), 2nd year
Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem (38 years), 13th year
Dioskoros, bishop of Alexandria (5 years), 4th year
Maximus, bishop of Antioch (4 years), 2nd year

IllIn this year the pious Marcian, appointed sole ruler by divine
decree, recalled all those in exile. I\? The blessed Pulcheria handed
over the universally detested eunuch Chrysaphios to Jordanes.ll”
The latter was the son of that John who, after usurping power in
Rome, had then surrendered to Ardabourios and Aspar, come to
Byzantium,” and been treated with honour, but who had then been
treacherously killed by Chrysaphios. Jordanes took Chrysaphios and
killed him.II

lilt is fitting to indicate that from the beginning the choice of God
fell on Marcian as emperor. In earlier times* when the Persian War
was undertaken, Marcian, being a common soldier, set out from
Greece with his detachment against the Persians, and, when he had

160

Chionographia AM 5943

come to Lycia, was struck with an illness. So he was left behind in
the city of Sidema,* and while he was tarrying there he made friends
with two brothers, called Julius and Tatianus, who took him to their
own house and looked after him. Once, when they went out hunting
they took him with them, and growing tired they went to sleep
about midday. Tatianus woke up first and saw Marcian asleep in the
sun, and an enormous eagle that had come over him and, spreading
out its wings, provided shade for him. After gazing at this, Tatianus
woke his brother and showed him the miracle. Having marvelled for
a long time at the bird's kindly service, they woke Marcian up and
said, 'If you are to become emperor, what will you grant us?’ He said,
‘Who am I that this should happen to me?’ They asked him a second
time and Marcian said, ‘If this should happen through God, I shall
appoint you senators.’ Then they gave him two hundred nomismata,
saying, 'Go to Constantinople and remember us when God elevates
you.'ll*s

So he departed and joined the generals Ardabourios and Aspar,
who where Arians, and spent fifteen years with them and having
become their domesticus, he went with Aspar to Africa to do battle
against Gizerich and was captured in battle by Gizerich.I1I* So
Gizerich, having locked up the prisoners in his own palace, was
observing them from an upper storey, and about midday, he leaned
out and saw Marcian asleep, while an eagle had come and, spreading
its wings, shaded him. Seeing this, Gizerich concluded that it hap-
pened through divine dispensation. And so he summoned the man
and, when he learned that he was the domesticus of Aspar, he knew
that he was going to be elevated to the Empire. Gizerich decided not
to kill him, since he calculated that no one is able to hinder the will
of God, so he demanded an oath from Marcian that if it was pleasing
to God to make him emperor, he would never fight the Vandals. And
so Marcian was set free unharmed and came to Byzantium. A little
while later, on the death of Theodosios, he was proclaimed emperor,
as we have already mentioned. He was a kind man to all his sub-
jects. II f

llAttila rose up against the emperors* because Valentinian at
Rome did not give his own sister Honoria in marriage to him.° He
advanced as far as the city of Aurelia,’ engaged with the Roman gen-
eral Aetios in battle, and was defeated, losing most of his forces at
the river Ligys,® and retreated in shame.n«

IIMarcian, recalling the favour that had been shown him in Lycia,
summoned Tatianus and Julius and proclaimed them senators. He
made Tatianus City prefect? and appointed Julius governor of
Lycia. 1”

161

105

AM5947 Chronogra phia

llThe blessed Pulcheria erected many different churches [dedi-
cated] to Christ and notably, at the beginning of the reign of the
pious Marcian, the church at Blachernai™ to our mistress worthy of
all praise, the Mother of God. 1"

I ILeo, the blessed Pope of Rome, wrote to Marcian’” to ask that the
presumptuous actions of Dioskoros and Eutyches at Ephesos against
the holy Flavian be examined by an ecumenical synod. So the
emperor ordered all the bishops to assemble. 11

° Cf. Theod. Lect. 358 (100. 21-2]. > Cf. Theod. Lect. 353 (100. 8).
° Contrast Theod. Lect. 320 (94. 3-9). 4 Cf. Nik. Kali. xv. 1. ® Cf. Evagr.
ii. 1. < Cf. Prok. BVi. 4. 4-11. * No clear source but cf. PLRE ii. 183 for
various parallel passages. » Cf. Nik. Kail. xv. 1. ' Cf. Theod. Lect. 363
(102. 23-5), AM 5945. ' Cf. Nik. Kail. xv. 2. Contrast Theod. Lect. 345, 347,

349 (98. 19-99. 15)-

* Theod. Lect. places the handing over of Chrysaphios between
Theodosios' death and Marcian's accession, against Mai. 368.

* Cf. AM 5938, where Theophanes has also confused Jordanes’ father
(John the Vandal) with the usurper of 423.

3 About 422.

* Usually written Sidyma, modern Todurga in south-west Lycia, not far
from the sea.

> For other reported prophecies of Marcian's elevation, Ps.-Dion 160-1
(a.757 = AD 445/6). These, being Monophysite, are hostile: see R. W. Burgess,
BZ 86/7 (1993/4), 47-68.

° Honoria had invited Attila to save her from a marriage arranged by her
brother Valentinian III. Attila, taking this as an offer of marriage, sought a
share of empire for himself. See J. B. Bury, JRS 9 (1919), 1-13; F. M. Clover,
Historia, 22 (1973), 104-17.

7 Orleans.

8 The Loire. This is the battle of Maurica (also known as the Catalaunian
Plains), on which cf. Bury, HLRE” i. 293-4.

2 oe was certainly in office by 18 Dec. 450 {Cfi. 39. 2, PLRE ii.

1053).
* The great church of Blachernai (to distinguish it from the adjoining
reliquary chapel or soros) was in fact built by Justin I (Prok. Aed. i. 3. 3-5)
rather than by Pulcheria, to whom it is usually attributed, as here. Cf! AM
6064. Pulcheria's (other) churches were Hodegoi, Chalkoprateia, and St
Laurentius (cf. AM 5945). See Mathews, Churches, 28-33.

"Leo wrote two letters to Theodosios (not Marcian) asking that Ephesos
should not have effect until it had been examined by a synod in Italy. After
Theodosios' death, he wrote to Marcian {Ep. 83, PL 54: 919-21) that a synod
was out of the question because of the Hun invasion. On 17 May 451 Marcian
ordered the bishops to meet at Nicaea on 1 Sept. 451. After they had assem-
bled (22 Sept.), he ordered the transfer to Chalcedon since he could not go far
from Constantinople because of the Hun invasion. See Kidd, iii. 309-15.

162

Chionographia AM 5943

[AM 5944, AD 451/2]

Marcian, 2nd year
Isdigerdes, 17th year
Leo, iothyear
Anatolios, 3rd year
Juvenal, 14th year
Dioskoros, 5th year
Maximus, 3rd year

IlIn this year the Fourth holy Synod was held in Chalcedon in
October of the 5 th indiction, a year and two months after the procla-
mation of Marcian [as emperor], I\" When all the bishops and the
Senate had gathered in the martyrium of St Euphemia, they exam-
ined the actions taken in the 1st indiction against Eutyches and
Dioskoros' innovations at Ephesus. When Dioskoros was accused of
these, he sought refuge by claiming ignorance of what had taken
place, but being unable to escape conviction because of the acts
themselves, he became perplexed and the truth was exposed. Since
he had no defence, he was disgraced. Those who had sat with him at
the Robber Synod charged him with the violence and constraint they
had suffered at his hands and, after seeking pardon from the synod,
they were admitted. Among them was Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem.”
Dioskoros, now in confusion and unable to put up any defence, no
longer dared to show himself at the synod. Thereupon the synod,
with the emperor Marcian and the Senate also present, decided
against Dioskoros and Eutyches and deposed them.ll® The emperor
banished Dioskoros to Gangrall® and praised the synod with these
words, 'I give the greatest thanks to the God of us all that, with the
discord removed, we have all come together to one and the same
confession.’ And after rewarding the 630 fathers* he dismissed them
in peace, each to his own seat.“ Proterios was ordained bishop of
Alexandria in place of Dioskoros.il®

° Cf. Nik. Kail. xv. 4, 20A. b’ Cf. Nik. Kail. xv. 4, 20B-C, Evagr. ii. 5.
¢ Cf. Theod. Lect. 362 (102. 13), Nik. Kail. xv. 5, 21D-24A. ¢ Cf. Theod. Lect.
360(101.25-6). © Theod. Lect. 362 (102. 13-14); cf. Vict. Tonn. a.453.

* The date and calculation are both accurate, the first meeting of the
synod being on 8 Oct. 451 (indiction 5), while Marcian's proclamation was
on 25 Aug. 450.

* Probably because of assurances that Jerusalem would be raised to the
status of a patriarchate, as indeed it was.

3 Dioskoros died 4 Sept. 454 at Gangra (modern fankm) in Paphlagonia.

* Probably about 520 bishops attended, all easterners apart from two from

163

106

107

AM 5962, Chronographia

Africa and two papal legates, but still the largest gathering of bishops up to
that time. Only about 350 signed the synod's definition.

> On the synod see A. Grillmeier and H. Bacht, eds., Das Konzil von
Chalkedon, 3 vols. (Wiirzburg, 1951-4), or more briefly Chadwick, Early
Church, 203-5, Young, From Nicaea, 229-40. Theophanes' treatment of this
most controversial and influential of synods, though brief, is accurate so far
as it goes in that the purpose of the synod was to deal with the Eutychian
heresy and to annul the Robber Synod at Ephesos. Theophanes, however,
does not mention that the synod, in addition to reaffirming the decisions
made by the synods of Nicaea and Constantinople, also affirmed the title of
Theotokos (God-bearer), for the Virgin Mary and that Christ is 'made known
to us in two natures’ (rather than 'in one nature’ or 'from two natures’). This
last point was the issue which made Chalcedon unacceptable to much of the
Eastern Church. Canon 28 of the synod also not only confirmed the status
of Constantinople as 'New Rome’, second in honour only to old Rome but
accepted the extension of its jurisdiction into Thrace, Asia, and Pontos.
Jerusalem was raised to the status of a fifth patriarchate.

AM 8945 [ad 452/3]

Year of the divine Incarnation 445

Marcian, emperor of the Romans (7 years), 3rd year
Perozes, emperor of the Persians (24 years), 1st year’
Leo, bishop of Rome (21 years), nth year

Anatolios, bishop of Constantinople (9 years), 4th year
Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem (38 years), 15th year
Proterios, bishop of Alexandria (6 years), 1st year
Maximus, bishop of Antioch (4 years), 4th year

Illn this year the blessed and pious Pulcheria died in the Lord.* She
had done many good deeds and left all her possessions to the poor.
Marcian readily distributed these large amounts. She herself’ had
founded numerous houses of prayer, poor-houses, hostels for trav-
ellers, and burial-places for strangers, among which was the church
of the holy martyr Laurentius.1I*

u After Dioskoros' banishment and Proterios' promotion, the sup-
porters of Dioskoros and Eutyches created an enormous amount of
trouble and even threatened to stop the transport of corn. When
Marcian learned of this, he ordered that the Egyptian corn be brought
down the Nile to Pelusium instead of Alexandria, and so be shipped
to the capital. As a result the Alexandrians, who were starving,
asked Proterios to supplicate the emperor on their behalf and so they
stopped making trouble.I I?

In this year the baths of Diocletian in Alexandria were restored.
II Also Attila burned the city of Aquileia.lI*

164

Chronographia AM 5867

I IIn the same year a certain monk called Theodosios, a destructive
man, went in haste to Jerusalem after the Synod of Chalcedon, and
after learning that the Augusta Eudokia was favourable to
Dioskoros, who had been deposed by the synod, he began to baw out
that the synod had distorted the correct faith and quite convinced
the Augusta and the monks. By means of murder he seized the
bishop's throne in a barbaric manner, and with the Augusta's men as
his assistants, he ordained bishops in every city, while the [other]
bishops were still at the synod. When Severianus, bishop of
Skythopolis, would not submit to his heresy, Theodosios drove him
out of the city and murdered him and then incited a persecution of
those who refused to be in communion with him. Many he tortured,
others he punished with confiscation, and he had the houses of yet
others burned down, so that the city seemed to have been captured
by the barbarians.IK* He slaughtered Athanasios, deacon of the
church of the Holy Resurrection, for reproaching and chiding him for
his godlessness, and after parading that man's holy body round the
city, he threw it to the dogs. Domnus, bishop of Antioch, fled into
the desert and so, too, did Juvenal of Jerusalem. After the corrupter
Theodosios had held the see of Jerusalem for twenty months, the
emperor Marcian was informed of it and ordered his arrest.
Theodosios went as a fugitive to Mount Sinai. With him and those
ordained by him out of the way, Juvenal regained his own see once
more. 11°

" Theod. Lect. 363 (102. 21-5). > Theod. Lect. 362 (102. 13-20). £2 GE:
Prosp. Tiro a.452 |Chion. Min. i. 482). ad Cf, Nik. Kalbxv_ g_ © Cf. Nik.
Kail. xv. 9.

Peroz ruled from 459 to 484. He succeeded not Yazdgerd (Il) but
Hormizd III (457-9), whom Theophanes has omitted.

* luly 453.

3 There is a similar account of these events in Evagr. ii. 5, who gives
Priscus of Panium as his source. In that account the people supplicate the
prefect Florus and there is no mention of Proterios.

* There are several early accounts of the monks’ revolt: ACO ii. r.
3.12.5-6, Zach. HE iii. 3-9, Cyr. Scyth., V. Euth. 27-8, Evagr. ii. 5. See esp.
E. Honigmann, DOP 5 (1950), 207-79, Frend, Monophysite Movement,
148-54.

> July 45 3-

[AM 5946, AD 453/4]

Marcian, 4th year
Perozes, 2nd year

165

AM5 962, Chronographia

Leo, 12, th year

Anatolios, 5th year

Juvenal, 16 thyear

Proterios, 2nd year

Basil, bishop of Antioch (2 years), 1st year

Illn this year Valentinian, the emperor in Rome, suspicious of the
power of the patrician and general Aetios, treacherously killed him,
with one of the eunuchs, Herakleios, as his accomplice. 1” Attila got
ready to make war on Marcian for refusing to pay him the tribute as
appointed by Theodosios. But in the meantime he fell in love with a
beautiful girl, and while celebrating his marriage to her, he became
thoroughly intoxicated and was overwhelmed by sleep; after dis-
charging a copious amount of blood through his nose and mouth, he
ended his life.* His sons inherited his great power but were killed
quarrelling with each other. The Romans of the East, however,
enjoyed complete peace, justice, and happiness during Marcian's
rule. Those were indeed golden years because of the emperor's good-
ness, and tranquillity prevailed in all affairs.I 1°

"Priscus, frg. 30. 2, restored from Theophanes. Cf. Nik. Kail. xv. 9.
> Priscus, frg. 24. 2, restored from Theophanes. ¢ Cf. Nik. Kail. xv. 15.

* Theophanes, though not obviously following any particular known
source, reflects the accounts in other chronicles, especially Joh. Ant., frgs.
200-1. Cf. PLRE, ii. 28, Aetius 7. The account at AM 5947 suggests the source
is Theod. Lect. and that Maximus was involved.

* For the date cf. Hyd. Lem. a.452, Prosp. Tiro a.453, Marcell. com. a.454.

[AM 5947, AD 454/5]

Marcian, 5 th year
Perozes, 3rd year
Leo, 13th year
Anatolios, 6th year
Juvenal, 17th year
Proterios, 3rd year
Basil, 2nd year

Il In this year Valentinian, the emperor in Rome, though supporting
the correct doctrines of the Church, committed many transgressions
in his private life. For though having a very beautiful wife, Eudoxia,
the daughter of the emperor Theodosios, he cohabited with other
women’ in demonic fashion and continually conversed even with
those who practised magic. So he was given over to a most shameful

166

Chronographia AM 5867

death. For one of the patricians in Rome, Maximus,” the grandson
and namesake of the Maximus who had been a usurper in the times
of Theodosios the elder, entered the palace, murdered Valentinian,
raped Eudoxia, and gained control of the Empire. For where anyone
sins, there will he be punished. Eudoxia, distressed by these events
and calculating that she would get no aid from Byzantium now that
both her father Theodosios and Pulcheria had died, invited Gizerich
to Rome, exhorting him to free her from Maximus’ tyranny. So
Gizerich sailed to Rome with a large fleet and Maximus fled in fear.
His associates killed him after he had ruled one year.’ Gizerich, with
no one to stop him, entered Rome on the third day after the murder
of Maximus, and taking all the money and the adornments of the
city, he loaded them on his ships, among them the solid gold and
bejewelled treasures of the Church and the Jewish vessels which
Vespasian's son Titus had brought to Rome after the capture of
Jerusalem. Having also taken the empress Eudoxia and her daugh-
ters, he sailed back to Africa. He married Eudokia to his eldest son,
Onorich,* but after learning that Placidia had a husband, the patri-
cian Olybrius, he held her in custody with her mother Eudoxia.II*

After learning of Maximus’ death, Majorinus ruled two years, and
after him Avitus held Rome's Empire for two years, and after him
Severus three years.’ After these men there was no emperor,’ but
Rekimer controlled affairs, commanding the army and invested with
great power.’

In the same year Eudokia died in Jerusalem, having made many
donations to the churches.®

* Cf. Nik. Kail. xv. 11, Joh. Ant., frg. 200, Theod. Lect. 366 (103. 8-14).

" These included Maximus' wife according to Joh. Ant., frg. 200, Prok. BV
i. 4. 16-23.

* It is unlikely that Maximus (Petronius Maximus, PLRE ii. 749) was
descended from the usurper Magnus Maximus, although the claim is also
made by Prok. BVi. 4. 16, Nik. Kail., andKedr. i. 605. Valentinian was actu-
ally killed by two dependants of Aetios in the Campus Martius, though
probably at Maximus’ instigation.

3 In fact two months (17 Mar-31 May).

* Spelled Hunirix in official documents. See PLRE ii. 572-3.

> Theophanes' chronology in this paragraph is confused. Majorinus
(Majorian) was emperor 457-61 (see PLRE ii. 702-3). At AM 5955 Theophanes
recognizes that he was succeeded by Severus. Avitus (PLRE ii. 196-8), was
emperor 455-6. He succeeded Maximus. At AM 5948 Theophanes places
Avitus in the correct year but calls him Amitos. Severus (PLRE ii. 1004) was
emperor 461-5. Cf. AM 5955, which almost gets the date right. Avitus was

167

109

AM 5947 Chronogra_phia

not recognized by Leo in the East, so it is interesting that Theophanes

includes him.
° Contrast AM 5964 for further emperors to 476.
7 Rekimer (Ricimer) was magistez utriusque militiae from 456 to his

death in 472.
8 Aelia Eudokia (Athenais) who had been living in Jerusalem probably

since 443 (cf. AM 5942). She died on 20 Aug. 460.

[AM 5948, AD 455/6]

Marcian, 6th year

Perozes, 4th year

Leo, 14th year

Anatolios, 7th year

Juvenal, 18th year

Proterios, 4th year

Martyrios, bishop of Antioch (13 years), ist year’

Illn this year Ravenna was burned, and a few days later the patrician
Ramitos was killed at Classe. Twenty-nine days later Amitos was
defeated by Remikos and went to the city of Placentia in Gaul.1I**

" Cf. e.g. Fasti. Vind. Post. a.455, Auct. Prosp. a.456, Mar. Avent. a.456.

* Between Basil and Martyrios Theophanes has omitted Akakios, men-
tioned by Nik. Chron. 131, with a tenure of one year. Cf. P. Peeters, Orient
et Byzance: Le Trefonds oriental de I'hagiographie byzantine, Subs. hag. 26
(Brussels, 1950), 129. The dates of Akakios are given by Grumel, 446, as
458-9.

* Ramitos is Remistus (PLRE ii. 939). Amitos is Avitus, emperor 455-6
(cf. AM 5947), who became bishop of Placentia but died soon afterwards.
Remikos (Rekimer at AM 5947) is Ricimer. Theophanes, despite his own
inaccuracies here, seems to have had access to a reasonably accurate west-
ern source. One suspects that this was more likely to have been available in
Jerusalem than Constantinople, judging by the lack of similar detailed infor-
mation in other Byzantine chronicles. Alternatively this may have been his
Alexandrian source, which has links with the Excerpta Barbari and provides
information from the West. Placentia (modern Piacenza) is in Italy, rather

than Gaul.

[AM 5949, AD 456/7]

Marcian, 7th year
Perozes, 5th year
Leo, 15th year

168

Chronographia AM 5867

Anatolios, 8thyear
Juvenal, 19 th year
Proterios, 5 th year
Martyrios, 2nd year

I lln this year the emperor Marcian died on the day before the kalends
of May.’ Leo the elder became emperor.II" In the same year in
Alexandria Trajan's bath was restored and also the great basilica at
the Stoicheion. 1 iMarcian was very pious and God-fearing. n°” He used
to go out on foot to the litanies in the Campus, performing many
good works for the needy. As a result of seeing him the patriarch
Anatolios no longer performed the litany while being carried in a
sedan-chair, as was customary, but on foot JI

IlIn this year Timothy the Cat, having had recourse to magic, went
round at night to the cells of the monks, calling each of them by no
name, and when there was a reply, he would say, 'I am an angel and
I have been sent to tell everyone to refrain from communion with
Proterios and the party of Chalcedon, and to appoint Timothy the
Cat bishop of Alexandria.'11*

IlIn the same year Eudoxia, the daughter of the emperor
Theodosios and wife of Valentinian the third, returned from Africa”
with one of her daughters, Placidia, the wife of Olybrius. For
Eudokia was married toGizerich's son Onorich and did not return. 1°

a Cf. Theod. Lect. 367 (103. 18-20]. > Cf. Theod. Lect. 364 (102. 26-103. ”).
© Theod. Lect. 365 (103. 3-7). 4 Theod. Lect. 369 (104. 15-20). " Theod.
Lect. 393 (no. 17-20).

" i.e. 30 Apr. Theod. Lect. gives the date as 27 Jan. (cf. Mai. 368). Cf. AM
5950, where Theophanes puts Leo's accession in Feb. See B. Croke, Byz 48
(1978), 5-9-

* The date is wrong. Eudoxia's return post-dates Eudokia's marriage to
Huneric, which occurred c.462. See PLRE ii. 411.

AM 595° IAD 457/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 450

Leo, emperor of the Romans (17 years), 1st year
Perozes, emperor of the Persians (24 years), 6th year
Leo, bishop of Rome (21 years), 16th year

Anatolios, bishop of Constantinople (9 years), gth year
Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem (38 years), 20th year
Proterios, bishop of Alexandria (6 years), 6th year
Martyrios, bishop of Antioch (13 years), 3rd year

169

AM5962, Chronographia

Illn this year Leo became emperor,’ a Thracian by race and a tribune
in rank, and was crowned by the patriarch Anatolios* in February of
the 10th indiction.il'?

I IIn the same year almost the whole city of Antioch collapsed in a
terrible earthquake. II*

A giraffe, a buffalo, and other beasts came to Alexandria. 1 At the
same time as these, Timothy, known as the Cat, was causing trou-
ble in the city of Alexandria. For having bribed a throng of disorderly
men, he seized the throne of Alexandria like a usurper, and, though
he had been suspended, was ordained by two men? who were them-
selves under suspension. I I° From this source grew all the snares in
Alexandria. For while all the priests of the whole world had accepted
the definition of the Synod at Chalcedon, this abominable man, in
an uncontrollable frenzy, insulted it and ordained bishops, though
not himself ordained, and performed baptisms, though not even
being a presbyter. The blessed Proterios, perceiving the plot that was
being hatched against him by the Cat, gave place unto wrath® and
sought refuge in the sacred baptistery on the first day of Easter. But
the forerunner of the Antichrist, respecting neither the holy day, nor
the revered places, 11 sent out men to kill the innocent high priest and
six others who were with him.’ Dragging his corpse with ropes, they
hauled it from the holy font and paraded it through the whole city
insulting it without pity. Finally they burned it in a fire and scat-
tered the ashes in the air. 11°

Illn the same year the relics of St Anastasia® were brought from
Sermium and deposited in her church in the portico of Domninus.ll®

II Timothy the Cat, after discovering some unpublished writings of
Cyril the Great, falsified them in many places, as Peter the presbyter
of Alexandria records. 11°

* Theod. Lect. 367 (103. 19-20). > Mai. 369. 5-8; cf. Evagr. ii. 12.
° Theod. Lect. 370 (104. 21-2). 4 Theod. Lect. 368 (103. 22-104. 74); cf. Nik.
Kail. xv. 16, 49C. "Theod. Lect. ii. 65 [PG 86/1: 216A-B, not in Hansen).

f Cf. Nik. Kail. xv. 16.

* As with Marcian (cf. AM 5942, n. 12), Leo's elevation may have been
arranged by Aspar; cf. AM 5961b. Cer. i. 91, in addition to giving other details
of Leo's accession, describes him as comes and tribune of the Mattiarii, a
legion under the control of the m agister militum in praesenti, who was
almost certainly Aspar. See Jones, LRE iii. 41 ( = ii. nil, pbk.) n. 5, Bury,
HLRE? i. 314-15.

* Mai. has Leo crowned by the Senate. Theod. Lect. does not mention
either Anatolios or the indiction. The description of Leo's elevation in
Const. Porph. excludes the actual coronation ceremony.

3 Feb. of the roth indiction fell in 457. Cf. AM 5949~.

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Chronographia AM 5867

4 De Boor gives Evagr. rather than Mai. as the source here, but Evagr. him-
self refers to a more detailed account in John the Rhetor’, who almost cer-
tainly must be the unabridged Mai. Theophanes has apparently deduced
that the earthquake was in Leo's first year from Mal.'s date of the year 506
of Antioch ( = AD 457/8), but Mai. also dates the earthquake to Sunday 13th
Sept. and the consulship of Patricius, both of which imply AD 459. (Clinton,
Fasti Romani, dates it to Sept. 458.)

> Peter of Iberia, ejected from Palestine, and Eusebios o f Pelusium, ejected
as a supporter of Dioskoros, were suspended on 16 Mar. 457. See Duchesne,
iii. 332. 'For having bribed . . . usurper' is not in Theod. Lect. This and the
following two sentences appear to be Theophanes’ own comment.

° Cf. Rom. 12: 19.

7 Proterios was murdered on 28 Mar. 457 (Duchesne, iii. 332).

® The translation of the relics of St Anastasia, supposedly martyred in
Sirmium m 304, underlines the influence of Aspar, Ardabourios, and the
Goths. Aspar and Ardabourios had paid for the reconstruction of the church
under St Marcian, who arranged for the scriptures to be read in Gothic on
festal days. See Janin, Eglises, 23.

[AM 5951, AD 458/9]

Leo, 2nd year

Perozes, 7th year

Leo, 17thyear

Gennadios, bishop of Constantinople (13 years), 1st year

Juvenal, 21st year

Timothy the Cat, who held Alexandria like a robber for 2 years, 1st
year

Martyrios, 4th year

*IlIn this year the emperor Leo, having learned of the unjust death of
Proterios and the illegal promotion of the Cat,Il* after sending
[instructions] cut out the tongue of Caesarius’ and banished both for
having taken part together in the murder of Proterios. But he did not
punish the unholy Timothy, saying it was the prerogative of bishops
to make a decision about him.lI®

In the same year, too, Zeno was married to Areadne,* the daugh-
ter of Leo.

" Theod. Lect. 371 (104. 2.3-4). 6 Theod. Lect. 372 (105. 10-14).

* Our translation is based on the assumption that Theophanes is trying to
reproduce the sense of Theod. Lect.: 'Having sent to Alexandria for this pur-
pose, he deprived Nikolaos the augustalios of his property. He cut out the
tongue of Caesarius the dux and banished the two of them for having taken
part together in the murder of Proterios.' Otherwise it would be natural to

171

112

AM5962, Chronographia

translate: 'the emperor Leo, having sent Caesarius, cut out the tongues of
both (? = ‘all') who had taken part in the murder of Proterios and banished
them.’ This is the sense understood both by Anastasius in the 9th cent, and
by PLRE ii. 1032, Stilas. PLRE has recognized that the name of the official
sent to restore order was Stilas, not Caesarius, but assumes, probably cor-
rectly, that the two are identical. Since the nouns behind a/oripovs
( = 'both’) are not identified, one might also assume that this has its alterna-
tive medieval meaning of ‘all’, which again is how Anastasius understood it
(cf. J. B. Bury, CR u (1897), 393-5; id. BZ 1 (1902), in). PLRE also pre-
sumes that Stilas ( = Caesarius) ‘succeeded Dionysius 7 as comes et dux
Aegypti. But elsewhere Caesarius is identified with Dionysius (see PLRE ii.
364), who is presumably also Stilas. The 'both' then must refer to Caesarius
and Nikolaos the latter of whom Theophanes has unfortunately omitted.
Support comes from Zach. HE iv. 2, who points out that some of the
Romans (i.e. imperial officials) were supporters of Timothy and also alleges
that Proterios was killed by a Roman. The failure to punish Timothy can
also be explained as being due to the unwillingness or inability of the
Alexandrian authorities to banish Timothy amidst the rioting in his favour.

* The marriage was probably 8 years later in 466/7. See PLRE ii. 141.

[AM 5952, AD 459/60]

Leo, 3rd year

Perozes, 8 th year

Leo, 18 th year

Gennadios, 2nd year
Juvenal, 22nd year
Timothy the Cat, 2nd year
Martyrios, 5th year

In this year the emperor sent a letter’ to the bishops of each
province, I\"* asking every one of them to write him his personal view
on whether they approved the definitions made at Chalcedon and
what they felt about the ordination of the Cat. I" Among these [he
wrote] to St Symeon the Stylite, Baradatos the monk, and Jacob the
miracle-worker, calling them to witness that, as they would have to
render an account to the God of all, so should they make a judge-
ment about the matters in dispute.I 1° They, being of one accord,
unanimously ratified the synod of Chalcedon as being holy and
accepted the definitions set out by it. They unanimously con-
demned Timothy as a murderer and a heretic. I\” Gennadios, too, was
eager for the emperor to avenge Timothy's audacity, while the Arian
Aspar sought to counteract him.I I The pious emperor banished the
Cat to Gangra,” where his teacher Dioskoros had previously [been
banished]. There, too, the Cat began to hold rival assemblies and

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Chronographia AM 5867

cause disturbances, on learning of which the emperor re-exiled him
to Cherson. 1 Another Timothy, surnamed the White (the same as
Salophakialos), an orthodox and good man who was loved by all, was
ordained bishop of Alexandria in his place. I Is?

° Theod. Lect. 372 (105. 8-9). > Cf. Theod. Lect. 371 (104. 26-8].
© Source not known but cf. Theod. Lect. 374-5 (105. 20-106. 7] regarding Jacob and
Symeon. 4 Theod. Lect. 373 (i°5- 15-17). e Theod. Lect. 378 (106.
17-19). ‘ Theod. Lect. 380 (107. 14-16) . * Theod. Lect. 379 [106. 21-3).

* The text is preserved in Evagr. ii. 9 and the replies at ii. 10.

* Cf.Evagr. ii. u for the banishment of Timothy. For Gangrasee AM 5944.

3 Timothy Salophakiolos' first tenure was Mar. 457-Jan. 460, his second
was Sept. 477-June 482 (Grumel, 443).

[AM 5953, AD 460/1]

Leo, 4th year

Perozes, 9 th year

Leo, 19th year

Gennadios, 3rd year

Juvenal, 23rd year

Timothy surnamed the White, bishop of Alexandria (15 years), 1st

year
Martyrios, 6th year

In this year Juvenal, the most holy bishop of Jerusalem, died’ and
Anastasios was ordained in his place. I In the same year there also
died Symeon the great Stylite, the one of the mandra,* who was the
first to practise that kind of asceticism and who became a worker of
miracles. 1°

" Cf. Evagr. i. 13, Mai. 369. 10-11,

* Juvenal probably died on 2 July 458: E. Honigmann, DOP 5 (1950), 261.
Note Theophanes' inconsistency in listing Juvenal as patriarch of Jerusalem
until AM 5968.

* Symeon died in 459, probably on 24 July (see H. Delehaye, Les Saints
Stylites (Brussels and Paris, 1923), ix-xv). Mandra, originally a sheepfold,
was the term used by Symeon to indicate the modesty of his accommoda-
tion. From this it acquired the meaning of monastery, particularly for the
complex of buildings that sprang up after his death at Qa'lat Sem'an
between Antioch and Cyrrhus. See H. Delehaye, op. cit. cliv-clxvi; A.-J.
Festugiere, Byz 45 (1975), 221 n. 57.

173

AM5947 Chronogra_phia

[AM s954, AD 461/2]

Leo, 5th year
Perozes, 10th year
Leo, 20th year
Gennadios, 4th year
Juvenal, 24th year
Timothy, 2nd year
Martyrios, 7thyear

IlIn this year a great fire occurred in Constantinople on 2 September
of the 15 th indiction.’ It began in the Neorion’ and spread as far as
the church of St Thomas in the district of Amantius.* Marcianus,
the oikonomos, went up on to the roof-tiles of St Anastasia holding
the gospel and preserved that church from harm by his prayers and
tears. I\*

"Theod. Lect. 394 (no. 21-5).

" Wednesday 2 Sept. of indiction 3 according to Chron. Pasch. 595. 2-3,
which makes the year 464 (given as 465 by Chron. Pasch. as also in Marcell.
com). This combination is more likely to be right than Theophanes' version,
even though his indiction and AM data do correspond. The most detailed
description of the fire is in Evagr. ii. 13, probably taken from Priscus, via
Eustathios of Epiphaneia (though cf. AM 5961). Theod. Lect., however, is cer-
tainly Theophanes' source here. The fire, one of the worst to affect
Constantinople, burned eight of the city's regions according to Chron.
Pasch., although the fire also shows similarities with the one dated by
Chron. Pasch. to 469. For a list of ancient references to fires in
Constantinople, see A. M. Schneider, BZ 41 (1941), 383-4.

* For the Neorion, the most ancient port in Constantinople, see
Ahrweiler, Mer, 430-9; Mango, Developpement, 55-6.

3 According to the Patria, the Amantius who built the church was
Anastasios’ parakoimomenos (Preger, iii. 249), but it is possible that the
Amantius who gave his name to the quarter was the consul of 345 or else
Eudoxia's eunuch, the enemy of John Chrysostom. On the church of St
Anastasia, cf. AM 5950.

[am 5955, ad 462/3]

Leo, 6thyear
Perozes, uthyear
Leo, 21st year
Gennadios, 5th year
Juvenal, 25th year

174

Chionographia AM5943

Timothy, 3rd year
Martyrios, 8th year

Illn this year Majorinus was killed by the patrician Remikios at
Tartion, and Severus, also called Serpentius,* was elevated to be
emperor on the nones of July.n*®

IlIn the same year when a painter dared to depict the Saviour in the
likeness of Zeus, his hand became withered. When he had confessed,
Gennadios cured him by his prayer. Some historians say that the
form with short curly hair is more appropriate for the Saviour.I\°
While Gennadios was praying one night inside the sanctuary, he is
said to have seen an apparition of a demon whom he rebuked and
then heard him cry out that he would yield as long as Gennadios was
alive, but after his death would surely rule the Church. Terrified,
Gennadios addressed many pleas to God on this account. u°

IE the same year Studius* built the church of the Forerunner and
established in it monks from the monastery of the Sleepless Ones.°
The praepositus Gratissimus® built the church of St Kyriakos out-
side the Golden Gate and became a monk in it.II°

- Cf. Fast. Vind. Prior, a.461, but cf. n. 3. > Theod. Lect. 382 (107. 21-4).
© Theod. Lect. 396 (111. 3—6). 4 Theod. Lect. 384 (108. 29-32).

* Dertona (modern Tortona) in Liguria, on the high road from Genoa to
Placentia (modern Piacenza).

* The name Serpentius is supported by Chion. Pasch. 593. 11, despite
PLRE ii. 1004. Severus was not recognized in the East by Leo.

3 7 July, the date also given by Vict. Tonn., who often reflects Theod.
Lect., presumably Theophanes' source here. Other sources have 19 Nov.
The year was 461.

* Studius was consul for 454. It is, however, likely that he built the
church before 454 and was rewarded with the consulship. See Mango, BMGS
4(19781,115-22.

> So-called because, divided into separate choirs, they maintained con-
tinuous prayer in their monastery, day and night. They were formed about
420 in Constantinople, but following their support of Nestorios, they had
been expelled and taken refuge at the monastery of Rufinianae. Later they
moved to Eirenaion (modern £ubuklu) opposite Sosthenion (Stenia), on the
Asiatic shore of the Bosporus. See Janin, Grands centres, 13-15.

° Gratissimus is only known from this passage and Theod. Lect., who
adds that Gratissimus completed the duties of praepositus while being a
monk.

175

113

114

AM5962, Chronographia

Am 5956 [AD 463/4]

Year of the divine Incarnation 456

Leo, emperor of the Romans (17 years), 7th year

Perozes, emperor of the Persians (24 years), 12th year
Hilary, bishop of Rome (6 years), 1st year’

Gennadios, bishop of Constantinople (13 years), 6th year
Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem (38 years), 26th year
Timothy, bishop of Alexandria (15 years), 4th year
Martyrios, bishop of Antioch (13 years), 9th year

IllIn this year the emperor Leo made his son-in-law Zeno magister
militum per Orientem,* and Basiliskos, the brother of the Augusta
Verina, magister militum per Thracias.Il*? Zeno went to Antioch
and met the bishop there, the holy Martyrios. Peter the Fuller, a
presbyter of the church of the martyr Bassa at Chalcedon, was in
Zeno's entourage. After persuading Zeno to co-operate with him, he
hired some people of the Apolinarian persuasion and aroused num-
berless disturbances* against the creed and bishop Martyrios. He
anathematized those who denied that God had been crucified, and
having split the people of Antioch, he added to the thrice-holy hymn
the phrase 'who was crucified for us’,II°* which from that time right
up to the present has continued to be said by the Theopaschites.
uMartyrios went to the emperor Leo and was received with much
honour by the efforts of Gennadios, bishop of Constantinople. After
returning to Antioch and finding the people in revolt and Zeno lend-
ing them aid, he resigned from his bishopric in front of the congre-
gation,° saying, 'With the clergy insubordinate, the people
disobedient, and the Church polluted, I resign, keeping for myself
the dignity of the priesthood.’ When he had gone, Peter the Fuller
leaped upon the throne of Antioch, immediately ordaining John
bishop of Apameia, a man previously deposed. When Gennadios
learned of this, he referred it all to the emperor, who ordered Peter
the Fuller to be banished.” When Peter heard this, he escaped ban-
ishment by flight. By a common vote a certain Julian was appointed
bishop of Antioch. II‘

In the same year on the 5th day before the ides of May® the prophet
Elisha was translated to Alexandria and placed in the monastery of
Paul the Leper. For he cured a leper, made a leper, and was placed in
[the church] of the Leper.

a Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 126, Theod. Lect. 390, 398-9 (109. 19-21, in. 13-14, 19-20).
> Theod. Lect. 390 (109. 19-110. 6). © Theod. Lect. 391-2 (no. 7-16).
1

Hilary was pope from 19 Nov. 461 to 29 Feb. 468.

176

Chronographia AM 5867

* Probably in 469 as successor to Flavius Jordanes (magister utriusque
militiae 466-9), who succeeded Ardabourios, who was dismissed in 466. See
PLRE ii. 1201. Zeno had previously been magister militum per Thracias
(probably 467/8) succeeding Basiliskos, when the latter was appointed to the
campaign against the Vandals (see AM 5961).

> Theophanes is our only evidence for the date.

* Cf. CJi. 3. 29 of 1 June 471, forbidding monks to leave their monaster-
ies in order to create disturbances at Antioch and in the towns of the Orient.

> The addition of 'who was crucified for us' which could be interpreted to
mean that Christ as God had suffered on the cross (the Theopaschite for-
mula) thus became a Monophysite catch-cry. ‘If the Trishagion was
addressed to our Lord, then the addition was unexceptionable and Peter
probably regarded it as addressed to Him. But at Constantinople the
Trishagion was addressed to the Trinity and the addition would then be
denounced as patripassion or theopaschite’ (Kidd, iii. 408). Cf. Evagr. iii. 44,
AM 5967 and 5982 n. 6.

° Note that in the chronological tables, Martyrios remains patriarch until
AM 5960 (he in fact resigned in 470) with Julian succeeding in AM 5961.
Julian's tenure was probably c.471-5 (Grumel, 446).

: Cf. again CJi. 3. 29 for his recall. He was presumably banishedin 470.

11 May.

[AM 5957, AD 464/5]

Leo, 8 thyear
Perozes, 13th year
Hilary, 2nd year
Gennadios, 7th year
Juvenal, 27 thyear
Timothy, 5thyear
Martyrios, iothyear

In this year the Tetrastoon and sanctuary of St John were built in
Alexandria. Also the public bath Heptabizos was restored to the city.

IlIn these years Daniel the Stylite ascended his column at
Anaplous,’ a marvellous man. John, a man of consular rank sur-
named Vincomalus,* having implored the holy Bassianos, became a
monk with him. He continued to go on processions in the palace as
one of the senators and when he left [the palace] he was escorted as
a consular as far as the monastery of Bassianos. But once inside the
monastery, he immediately put on the monastic goat's-hair cloak
and fulfilled his duties in the kitchen and the stable and in other
work of this kind.

In the same year Anthimos and Timokles, the composers of
troparia, became famous. I\”

177

115

AM 5947 Chronogra phia

Illn the same year following an embassy from the Senate in Rome,
the emperor Leo sent out Anthimios,* the son-in-law°® of the previ-
ous emperor Marcian, as emperor in Rome, a most Christian man
who piously ruled the Empire for six years.! \?

" Theod. Lect. 385-8 (109. 1-13). b Cf. Evagr. ii. 16.

" On the European side of the Bosporus. The date ought to be 460 if
Daniel remained on his column for 33 years and three months and died on
u Dec. 493 (V. Dan. Styl. chs. 97 and ror), but it should also have followed
closely Symeon's death in 459 (probably July, V. Dan. Styl. 2-26, cf. AM 5853,
n. 2), though the correspondence between the traditional length of Christ's
life on earth and Daniel's 'contest' is suspicious.

* John Vincomalus (Bringomalas) was magister offlciorum 451-2 and
consul in 453. Bassianos, who came from Syria in Marcian's reign, built his
monastery in or near Deuteron, i.e. between Fatih and the Adrianople gate.
Cf. Syn. CP 127-8. In the Life of St Matrona, (AASS Nov. 3: 793E) a John
Seurepewwy at the monastery is mentioned.

> These are the first Byzantine hymn-writers to be mentioned by name.
Theod. Lect. states that Anthimos introduced vigils into the service.

* Anthemios was emperor 467-72. Contrast AM 5947, where Theophanes
states that there were no more emperors in the West.

> Anthemios' wife was Aelia Marcia Euphemia, Marcian's daughter.

AM 5958 [AD 465/6]

Leo, emperor of the Romans (17 years), 9 th year

Perozes, emperor of the Persians (24 years), 14th year
Hilary, bishop of Rome (6 years), 3rd year

Gennadios, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 8th year
Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem (38 years), 28th year
Timothy, bishop of Alexandria (15 years), 6th year
Martyrios, bishop of Antioch (13 years), nth year

IlIn this year a sign appeared in the sky, a cloud in the shape of a
trumpet, for forty days each evening. I \*

Cf. Chion. Pasch. 597. 13-15, a.467.

[AM 5959, AD 466/7]

Leo, 10th year
Perozes, 15th year
Hilary, 4th year
Gennadios, 9 th year

Chronographia AM 5867

Juvenal, 29 th year
Timothy, 7th year
Martyrios, 12th year

In this year Alexandria enlisted three thousand men’ and the great
pool was built in the district of John together with two baths named
Health and Healing. The river at Alexandria was dug from Chersaion
to Kopreon.

" A rare piece of statistical evidence for the size of a work-force for build-
ing baths.

[AM 5960, AD 467/8]

Leo, nth year
Perozes, 16 th year
Hilary, 5 thyear
Gennadios, 10th year
Juvenal, 30th year
Timothy, 8 thyear
Martyrios, 13 th year

In this year the quaestor Isokasios,’ an Antiochene and a philoso-
pher, was denounced to the emperor for being a pagan. The emperor
ordered him to be examined before the praetorian prefect in
Constantinople. When he was brought into the Zeuxippos with his
hands tied behind his back, the prefect Pusaeus said to him, 'Do you
see, Isokasios, in what state you have placed yourself?’ He replied, 'I
see, and I am not dismayed. For being human, I have fallen into
human misfortune. But bring judgement on me just as you used to
judge with me.”* On hearing this, the crowd acclaimed the emperor.
When the emperor was informed, he rejoiced and released Isokasios
back to his own country. 1%

"Mai. 369. 17-371. 4; cf. Chron. Pasch. (a.467), 595. 6-596. 12, Joh. Nik. 88. 7-11,
Kedr. i. 612-3, Zon. xiv. 1. 9-11.

Leo banned pagans from practising as lawyers in this year (C/i. 4. 15).
Isokasios had persisted in his paganism despite, it was said, only recovering
from illness after a visitation by St Thekla: Mir. S. Theclae, no. 39, ed.
Dagron, 395. Cf. ibid. 91-2. The quaestor advised emperors on the drafting
of laws. See J. Harries, /RS 78 (1988), 148-72.

* The imperial high court was conducted after AD 440 by the praetorian
prefect of the East and the quaestor sitting jointly. See Jones, LRE i. 505-6.
Pusaeus had been praetorian prefect since 465. See PLRE ii. 930.

179

116

AM5962, Chronographia

3 Probably Antioch. He first submitted to baptism (Mai. 371. 3-4, Chron.
Pasch. 596. 12).

[AM 5961, AD 468/9]

Leo, 12th year

Perozes, 17th year

Hilary, 6 th year

Gennadios, nth year

Juvenal, 31st year

Timothy, 9th year

Julian, bishop of Antioch (6 years), 1st year

IIIn this year the emperor Leo equipped and sent out a big fleet
against Gizerich who ruled the Africans.’ For after the death of
Marcian, Gizerich had committed many terrible things against the
territories under the Empire of the Romans, plundering, taking
many prisoners, and destroying the cities. And so the emperor,
moved by zeal, gathered 100,000 ships” from the entire eastern sea,
filled them with armies and weapons, and sent them against
Gizerich. Indeed they say that he spent 130,000 lbs. of gold? on this
expedition. As general and commander of the fleet he appointed the
Augusta Verina's brother Basiliskos,I \* who had already obtained the
distinction of a consulship and had frequently defeated the
Scythians in Thrace. Joined by a considerable force from the West,
he met Gizerich frequently in sea battles ** and consigned his ships
to the depths and could have conquered Carthage. But later, enticed
by gifts and vast amounts of money from Gizerich, he gave in and
was voluntarily defeated, as Persikos the Thracian? records. 1°

u Some say that Aspar and Ardabourios, being Arians, and for this
reason unable to reach the imperial dignity, made Leo emperor inas-
much as he was their curator,’ while expecting to manage the realm
themselves. But since as emperor he did not consent to this, they
strove to subvert matters that were well managed by him, and they
agreed to give the Empire to Basiliskos if he betrayed the emperor's
fleet and army to Gizerich, who was an Arian and of their own per-
suasion. They say that because of this Basiliskos committed treach-
ery. u°

u Next Gizerich hit on this device: he filled ships of war with some
combustible material, and waiting for the night when the Romans
were asleep and off their guard, he let them go from the land against
the Roman fleet, with the wind blowing away from the shore. They
completely burned many of the [Roman] ships, u‘ though others,

180

Chronographia AM 5867

escaping the danger, returned to Sicily. Then indeed Basiliskos'
treachery was proved and became evident to all members of the
armament.’

In the same year Aspar's son Patricius, whom the emperor Leo had
made Caesar for having won over Aspar from Arianism and for being
devoted to the emperor, arrived in Alexandria amid great pomp at
the time when the Koreion bath was repaired.*

a Priscus, frg. 53.1, restored from Theophanes. Cf. Prok. BVi. 5. 22-6. 2, Nik. Kail,
xv. 27. b Priscus, frg. 53. 1, restored from Theophanes. ¢ Cf. Prok. BVi.
6. 3-4, Nik. Kail. xv. 27. 4 Cf. Prok. BVi. 6. 17-21, Nik. Kail. xv. 27.

" Gizerich (Genzeric, Gaiseric) had pillaged Illyricum, the Peloponnese,
and the Greek coastline and had threatened Alexandria. See E. Gautier,
Genseric, Roi des Vandales (Paris, 1932), 254.

* Miiller, FHG iv. no, suggested 1,100, based on Kedr. i. 613 , who has
1,113. The MS figure is certainly wrong, giving the same number of ships as
Prok. gives for men, but it may well have been Theophanes' mistake rather
than a scribe's.

3 The figure is supported by Prok., virtually demonstrating that both
authors are relying ultimately on Priscus, as other sources give different fig-
ures,- Candidus (frg. 2, FHG iv. 137) gives 64,000 Ibs. of gold, 700,000 Ibs. of
silver, plus money from confiscations and from Anthemios. Joh. Lyd. De
Mag. iii. 43, has 65,000 lbs. of gold and 700,000 of silver. See Blockley, FCH
ii. 399. Given that the 700,000 lbs. of silver would convert to approx. 30,000
Ibs. of gold, Priscus may have allowed for this and the other moneys by sim-
ply doubling the gold figure.

* Dindorf filled the lacuna to read 'he consigned a large number of ships’.

> i.e. Priscus of Panium. Cod. y reads ihanep GI/CO}. This passage has
become Priscus, frg. 42 (Miiller) or 53. 1 (Blockley). The most likely inter-
mediary source is Eustathios of Epiphaneia.

° Cf. AM 5950, n. 1. For an old but still very useful discussion of Leo's
attempt at freeing himself and the state from his Gothic masters by pro-
moting the Isaurians as a counterweight, see E. W. Brooks, EHR 8 (1893),
209-38.

7 It would fit Theophanes' use of sources if this sentence, for which Prok.
is not the source, also came from Priscus, and quite possibly the preceding
sentence as well, since it is not close to Prok. The most likely common
source is again Eustath.

® If this paragraph comes from Theophanes' Alexandrian source, as seems
likely (cf. AM 5959), it shows that the latter may have included some mater-
ial not related directly to Alexandria. Theophanes (and hence the
Alexandrian source?) imply that Patricius had already been made Caesar.
All other sources (see PLRE ii. 842) suggest that this happened in 470 so as
to induce Aspar to remain loyal (cf. AM 5963). Patricius was apparently still
Arian when he married Leo's daughter Leontia, since Leo had to promise
that Patricius would become Catholic before becoming emperor.

181

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AM 5962, Chronographia

[AM 5962, AD 469/70]

Leo, 13thyear

Perozes, 18th year

Simplicius, bishop of Rome (14 years), 1st year’
Gennadios, 12th year

Juvenal, 32nd year

Timothy, 10th year

Julian, 2nd year

In this year the emperor Leo sent Zeno, the magister militum per
Orientem and his own son-in-law, to Thrace for some military pur-
pose, ordering the transfer to him of some of his own troops as rein-
forcements.’ These troops, at Aspar's instigation, were close to
killing Zeno, had he not anticipated the plot by escaping safely to
Serdica,* a city in Thrace. As a result of this, Aspar became suspect
to the emperor Leo.

* Simplicius was pope from 3 Mar. 468 to 10 Mar. 483.

* The material in this paragraph does not appear to be taken from Prok.
(cf. BVi. 6. 27) and so may again be taken from Priscus (via Eustath.), who
did know about events in Thrace. Cf. AM 5961, nn. 5 and 7 and AM 5963.

3 The V. Dan. Styl., ch. 65, confirms most of this account but states that
Zeno fled not to Serdica but to the Long Walls, Pylai, and then Chalcedon.
Marcell. com. gives the date as 469.

IAM 5963, AD 470/1]

Leo, 14th year
Perozes, 19 th year
Simplicius, 2nd year
Gennadios, 13th year
Juvenal, 33rd year
Timothy, nth year
Julian, 3rd year

Illn this year the emperor Leo sent against Gizerich Herakleios of
Edessa, the son of the ex-consul Florus, and the Isaurian Marsos,
both energetic men, with an army from Egypt, the Thebaid, and the
desert.’ After taking the Vandals by surprise, they regained Tripolis
and many other cities of Libya and harassed Gizerich more than the
fleet of Basiliskos had done, so that he prepared to send an embassy
to the emperor Leo about peace. This was agreed to by Leo, who at
that time needed Basiliskos, Herakleios, and Marsos for a plot
against Aspar. For Aspar, being suspected by the emperor, as I have

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mentioned, and being invested with great power, was treacherously
murdered by the emperor shortly afterwards, along with his sons,
Ardabourios and Patricius, whom the emperor had earlier appointed
Caesar in order to keep Aspar's goodwill.|I'

° Priscus, frg. 53. 5, restored from Theophanes.

" The only other version of Herakleios' campaign is in Prok. BVi. 6. 9,
which tallies with Theophanes but is certainly not Theophanes' source,
since Theophanes is more detailed. The obvious common source is Priscus,
who is certainly used by both, directly or indirectly, for the reign of Leo,
especially in relation to Aspar. The only other known action by Herakleios
is given by Priscus, frg. 41 (Miiller) or 51. 1 (Blockley) = Exc. de leg., p. 46.
Again the likely direct source for Theophanes is Eustath.

* Cf. AM 5961. Two sources (Candidus, Nik. Kail.) say Patricius was
allowed to live on, but in that case his marriage with Leontia must have
been annulled as she married Marcian before his appointment as magister
militum (c.471/4). It is more likely that Patricius was killed as Theophanes
(and other sources) claim.

AM 5964 [AD 471/2]

Year of the divine Incarnation 464

Leo, emperor of the Romans (17 years), 15 thyear
Perozes, emperor of the Persians (24 years), 20th year
Simplicius, bishop of Rome (14 years), 3rd year
Akakios, bishop of Constantinople (17 years), 1st year
Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem (38 years), 34th year
Timothy, bishop of Alexandria (15 years), 12th year
Julian, bishop of Antioch (6 years), 4th year

In this year, after Aspar and his sons Ardabourios and Patricius had
been put to death by Leo, Aspar's bodyguard Ostrys and Triarios' son
Theuderich, who was Aspar's brother-in-law,’ attacked the City
with an army to avenge the murdered men.” And had not Basiliskos,
who on his return from Sicily, got back before them, and had not
Zeno, coming from Chalcedon, where he was awaiting the execu-
tion of Aspar, come to the aid of the City and scattered the insur-
gents,’ there would have been much upheaval in the state. Aspar's
youngest son Armenarich,* who had been beguiled, on Zeno's advice
escaped and was sent to Isauria where he was set up as an in-law of
Zeno's illegitimate son. After Leo's death he returned to Byzantium
and lived happily to the end.

Illn Italy the general Recimer, whom I have mentioned previously,
the brother-in-law of Anthemios who had ruled Rome piously, rose

183

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AM5962, Chronographia

up against his own relative. During the war which gripped the coun-
try, the forces of the emperor suffered from hunger to such an extent
that they ate even animal skins and other strange food, and the
emperor Anthemios was killed in the seventh year of his rule.ll**
Thereupon Leo, because of the tumult that still existed in Rome,
sent out Placidia's husband Olybrius to Rome and proclaimed him
sole ruler. Recimer survived the killing of Anthemios for only three
months before dying from disease, and Olybrius died at the same
time from a bodily ailment. After their deaths, Majorinus°® suc-
ceeded to the Empire, a man who was sound of mind and experi-
enced in war. Finding that the cities had been devastated by
Gizerich, he invaded Liana‘]’ and, after reaching Liguria, showed
himself a terrible foe to the Vandals. As he was about to gain victory,
he died in the meantime, overtaken by the disease of dysentery. u”
The general crossed over and got to Patmosf.]® safely. While
Gizerich's entourage was caught up in these events, lithe young
Eudokia, the granddaughter of Theodosios, who had been in Africa
for sixteen years with her husband Onorich and had borne him a son,
Ilderich, vexed with her husband for being an Arian, found an oppor-
tunity to flee and came to Jerusalem, and after venerating the
revered sites and embracing the tomb of her grandmother
(Eudokia),? spent a few days in the Holy City and died in peace,
bequeathing everything she had to the church of the holy
Resurrection.II* She committed Bourkos’® and his children to the
archbishop of Jerusalem for being her faithful helper in her escape
from her husband, the Arian Onorich.

" Priscus, frg. 64, restored from Theophanes. > Cf. Prok. BV i. 7. 1-14.
¢ Cf. Nik. Kail. xv. 12, 40B.

* Cf. AM 5970, where Theuderich is described as the nephew of Aspar's
wife.

* Although Theophanes' source for this paragraph is not known, some of
the details occur at Mai. 371, Chron. Pasch. 596-7. For Theuderich, see
PLRE ii. ro73-6, Theodericus Strabo 5. Theuderich's demands are given in
Malchus, frg. 2 (Miiller and Blockley) and his devastation of Thrace in
Malchus, frg. 1 (Miiller) or 15 (Blockley). Brooks, EHR (1893), 215, sug-
gested that the most likely ultimate source is Priscus (presumably via
Eustath.), since the information is probably accurate. For Ostrys, see PLRE
ii. 814-15.

3 Malchus, frg. rr (Miiller) or 15 (Blockley), gives details of a negotiated
settlement by which Theuderich was recognized by Leo as ruler of the
Goths and was appointed magister militum. See PLRE ii. 1074. Theophanes
alone mentions the part played by Zeno and Basiliskos.

* For Armenarich see PLRE ii. 549, Herminericus. It is chronologically

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Chronographia AM 5867

unlikely that Zeno would have had any granddaughters of marriageable age
at this date. Armenarich not only returned to Byzantium, but later served
under Zeno (Joh. Ant., frg. 214. 4), and even revealed to Zeno a plot against
him (Damascius, V. Isid., frg. 290).

> Contrast the account at AM 5947. Recimer (Ricimer) had married
Anthemios' daughter late in 467. He rebelled in 470 and deposed Anthemios
in 472. Anthemios, who had ruled in Rome since 467, was captured and
killed by Ricimer's nephew Gundobad on u July. Olybrius was sent in 472
by Leo to make peace between Ricimer and Anthemios. Ricimer proclaimed
him emperor probably in Apr. 472. Ricimer died on 18 Aug., Olybrius on 2
Nov.

° Majorinus is out of order. He was emperor 457-61 (cf. AM 5947, n. 5 and
AM 5955) before being deposed by Ricimer.

7 ‘Liana’ is corrupt. 'Excessively' and 'towards the coast' have been sug-
gested as emendations.

5 A corrupt reading for which the Po (Pados) and the Straits (porthmos)
of Gibraltar have been suggested as possible emendations.

° Restored from Anastasius’ Latin translation.

*° He may have been the Burco who was an officer (possibly comes rei
militaris) of Majorinus. See PLRE ii. 242-3.

AM 5965 [AD 472/3]

Year of the divine Incarnation 465

Leo, emperor of the Romans (17 years), 16th year
Perozes, emperor of the Persians (24 years), 21st year
Simplicius, bishop of Rome (14 years), 4th year
Akakios, bishop of Constantinople (17 years), 2nd year
Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem (38 years), 35th year
Timothy, bishop of Alexandria (15 years), 13th year
Julian, bishop of Antioch (6 years), 5th year

IllIn this year the emperor Leo crowned and proclaimed emperor his
own grandson, Leo, the son of his daughter Areadne and Zeno."

u After the deaths of Olybrius, Recimer, and Majorinus, Glykerios’
was proclaimed emperor of Italy, a man who was by no means
worthless, and whom, after a rule of five months, the Dalmatian
Nepotianus’ expelled from office and became emperor himself for a
short time, but was expelled by a certain Orestes whose son,
Romulus surnamed Augustulus,* succeeded and ruled for just two
years, being established as sole ruler of the Empire in Italy 1303
years‘ after the reign of Romulus, the founder of Rome. And it is
worthy of note that the Empire of the West which had flourished
from the time of Romulus ended again with a Romulus after so
many years. For next Odoacer, a Goth by race but brought up in

185

II,

120

AM5962, Chronographia

Italy,> subdued the Empire with a barbarian army. He, assuming for
himself the title of 'Rex'll® and filling every office according to the
ancestral law of the Romans, held power for ten years.° He lived at
Ravenna, a prosperous and beautiful city in Italy by the sea.

a Theod. Lect. 398 (IN. 13-14); cf. AM 5966b and Theod. Lect. 400 (112. 11-14),
Nik. Kali. xv. 29, 84C. > Cf. Evagr. ii. 16.

* Emperor 3 Mar. 473-J""* 474-

* In fact Julius Nepos, son of Nepotianus: he had been sent by Leo to
depose Glykerios. He was emperor June 474-28 Aug. 475, when he fled from
Ravenna after being attacked by Orestes.

3 Emperor 31 Oct. 475 until deposed by Odoacer in Sept. 476.

* I fw e put Romulus Augustulus in 4.7 6 (AM 5968), then Theophanes' fig-
ures do tally with Synkellos' calculation for the foundation of Rome, ie. AM
4665 in Romulus’ 13th year (Synkellos, 230. 10 and 18).

> For the many suggestions about Odoacer's nationality, PLRE ii. 791.
There is no support for Theophanes’ statement that he grew up in Italy.

He in fact ruled as rex from 476 to 493.

[AM 5966, AD 473/4]

Leo, 17th year
Perozes, 22nd year
Simplicius, 5th year
Akakios, 3rd year
Juvenal, 36 th year
Timothy, 14th year
Julian, 6th year

IlIn this year dust came down from clouds that seemed to be burn-
ing, so that everyone thought it was raining fire.’ Everybody per-
formed litanies in fear. The dust settled on roofs to the depth of one
palm. Everybody said that it was fire and that it was put out and
became dust through God's mercy.I\*

IllIn the same year the emperor Leo fell sick in Byzantium and died
in January of the 12th indiction,* leaving Leo, the son of Zeno and
Areadne, whom he had previously appointed emperor, though he
was still an infant. In February? Leo crowned his father in the
Kathisma of the Hippodrome, with Verina and Areadne assisting
him. After ruling for only ten months jointly with his father Zeno,
the young Leo diedl\ from an illness I land Zeno ruled alone for sev-
enteen years and two months, including the twenty months* of
Basiliskos' usurpation.II° Zeno administered the Empire harmfully;
in the beginning the Saracens overran Mesopotamia and the Huns

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Chronographia AM 5867

Thrace, causing severe damage to the state, while the emperor spent
his time on wicked pleasures and unjust deeds.u“

"Mai. 372. 6-10; cf. Theod. Lect. 398 (in. 13-16), Chion. Pasch. 598, a.469.
> Theod. Lect. 400 (112. 11-14). © Cf. Nik. Kail. xvi. 24,161A, xvi. 9, 132B; cf.
Evagr. iii. 2. 4 Cf. Nik. Kail. xvi. 1, 116C-117D.

loo

Mount Vesuvius in Campania covered the whole face of Europe with
particles of ash. Annually on 6 Nov. the Byzantines celebrated the memory
of their fear of this ash’, Marcell. com. a.472. Cf. B. Croke, Byz 51 (1981),
122-47.

* Leo died on 18 Jan. 474. The 12th indiction runs Sept. 473-Aug. 474.

3 9 Feb. 4 9 Jan. 475-end of Aug. 476.

> Since we do not know whether Nik. Kail, had a source other than
Theophanes here, this may well be a case of Theophanes making his own
judgement on a reign. Even if it is the judgement of Theophanes' source, it
is one with which Theophanes concurs.

AM 5967 [AD 474/5]

Year of the divine Incarnation 467

Zeno, emperor of the Romans (17 years), 1st year

Perozes, emperor of the Persians (24 years), 23rd year

Simplicius, bishop of Rome (14 years), 6th year

Akakios, bishop of Constantinople (17 years), 4th year

Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem (38 years), 37th year

Timothy, bishop of Alexandria (15 years), 15 th year

Peter, 39th bishop of Antioch for the first time (3 years), 1st year

IlIn this year Leo the younger, after ruling for only ten months with
his father Zeno, and having appeared on procession as consul, died,
and Zeno ruled the Empire alone.’ Basiliskos, the brother of Zeno's
mother-in-law Verina, while staying in Herakleia in Thrace, rebelled
against Zeno with the help of Verina and some members of the
Senate. In fear of him, Zeno, with his wife Areadne and a consider-
able amount of money, fled to a stronghold in Isaurial\* called Ourba,
and from there he moved to Sbide,* where he remained two years?
with his wife Areadne while being besieged by IIlos and Trokoundos,
who were then supporting Basiliskos.

1 iBasiliskos was proclaimed emperor in the Campus and appointed
his son Marcus Caesar and crowned his wife Zenodia* Augusta. He
immediately prepared to campaign against the faith, being especially
urged to do so by Zenodia. He recalled Timothy the Cat by decree,
and also Peter the Fuller, who was being hidden in the monastery of
the Sleepless Ones, while the other enemies of the holy Synod of

187

122

AM5962, Chronographia

Chalcedon spoke openly against the truth. The Cat assembled a dis-
orderly mob of Alexandrians resident in Byzantium and, riding on an
ass, took them on a litany from the palace to the church. But when
he had come to [the building] known as the Octagon, he fell off and
crushed his foot and had to go back shamefaced. Basiliskos sent him
out to Alexandria with decrees against the synod, and likewise Peter
the Fuller to Antioch, u” strengthening both to act against the truth.

ut When Timothy Salophakialos, bishop of Alexandria, learned that
Timothy the Cat had arrived, he withdrew to the monasteries of
Kanopos, where he had formerly lived the life of an ascetic.
Although the Cat wronged many, he was unable to harm Timothy
because the latter was loved by everyone. When the Cat entered
Alexandria, his supporters shouted out this disgraceful thing, 'You
have fed on your enemies, pope!’, and he shouted back, "Yes, indeed
I have fed on them.'II* This impious fellow® even anathematized the
synod of Chalcedon.I\‘ Julian, bishop of Antioch, died from grief at
what had happened. Peter the Fuller seized his throne and spread
anathemas and discord, so that there were murders and rapine
because of the addition to the Trishagion. I\° By a general decree
Basiliskos annulled the Synod of Chalcedon and ordered Akakios of
Constantinople to do the same.’ But the entire city, including
women and children, gathered in the church against Basiliskos and
prevented this. Akakios, clad in black, draped the throne and the
altar in black. Daniel the Great came down from his column and,
full of holy zeal, joined for a time Akakios and the congregation in
church. IK

1 Perozes? campaigned against the Nephthalite Huns’® and having
routed them went in pursuit. But they, making their escape in small
groups along the narrow passes in the mountains, retreating to right
and left, got themselves behind the Persians and blockaded them
through their lack of precaution. In these straits Perozes begged for
peace. The emperor of the Nephthalites would not do this before
Perozes fell down before him, made obeisance and gave assurances
on oath that he would never again campaign against the
Nephthalites. Perozes, constrained by force, was compelled to do
this and retreated in great dishonour. But unable to bear the shame,
he campaigned against them once more, disregarding his oaths. 1

" Theod. Lect. 400-1 (112. n-18). 5 Theod. Lect. 402-5 (112. 19-113. 16).
© Theod. Lect. 409 (114. 6-12); cf. Evagr. iii. 11. 4 Theod. Lect. 405 (113. 15].
e Theod. Lect. 410 (114. 13—16). ' Theod. Lect. 407 (113. 21-6). « Cf.

Nik. Kail. xvi. 36, 196C-D, Prok. BP i. 3, Ps.-Dion Chron. 180-1.

* Cf. AM 5966.
188

Chronographia AM 5867

* Zeno fled on g Jan. 475. Ourba is probably Olba (modern Ura), north of
Seleukeia. Sbide is the modem Izvit, about 80 km. west of Olba.

3 Accepting de Boor's emendation Siena for Sia'tnav of the MSS.

* Recte Zenonis.

> Theophanes has added 'this impious fellow’. The subject is Basiliskos
in Theod. Lect. but Timothy in Theophanes.

° Cf. AM 5956 and AM 5982, n. 6.

7 See Evagr. iii. 4, Zach. HE v. 2, P. Allen, Evagrius (Louvain, 1981),

123-4.

354, Dan. Styl., chs. 72-85.

° On the different traditions regarding Peroz (Firuz) see A.M. Cameron,
DOP 23-4 (1969-70), 153-4-

*° Otherwise (H)ephthalites or White Huns, cf. Noldeke, Tabari, 115 n. 2,
Moravesik, Byzantinoturcica, ii. 127, A. M. Cameron, art. cit. T52. For a
brief treatment of the Hephthalites, cf. Smor, CHEIA, 300-1.

AM 5968 [AD 475/6]

Year of the divine Incarnation 468

Zeno, emperor of the Romans (17 years), 2nd year
Perozes, emperor of the Persians (24 years), 24th year
Simplicius, bishop of Rome (14 years), 7th year

Akakios, bishop of Constantinople (17 years), 5th year
Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem (38 years), 38th year
Timothy the Cat, bishop of Alexandria (2 years), 1st year
Peter the Fuller, bishop of Antioch (3 years), 2nd year

Illn this year, when the clergy and monks of Constantinople were
fighting on behalf of the holy Synod of Chalcedon, Akakios, fearing
the crowd, pretended to agree with them and for this reason spoke
against Basiliskos and Zeno‘’]’ from the ambo.II* When Basiliskos
learned of this, he was afraid of the people's wrath and departed from
the City, ordering that no member of the Senate should meet
Akakios; for the people were about to set fire to the City. Daniel, the
wonderful stylite, taking the monks and the zealots among the
people, led them out to Basiliskos and addressed him with consider-
able licencell”” but Basiliskos took no notice of them.

IIIn the same, year Perozes went on campaign once more against
the White Huns, known as Nephthalites, and perished with his
entire army.’ For the Nepthalites dug a deep ditch, placed reeds over
it, covered it with earth, and then stayed behind it. They sent out a
few men to meet the Persians and then turned in flight, crossed the
narrow passes one by one and fled together with all the others. The
Persians, not suspecting any danger, rashly pursued them and they

189

123

AM5962, Chronographia

all, including Perozes and his sons, fell into the pit and perished.
When Perozes perceived the danger, he removed the huge, brilliantly
white pearl he had in his right ear (it was exceedingly costly) and
threw it away so that no one after him would wear it, since it was
most remarkable; no other emperor had ever before possessed any-
thing like it. So Perozes was destroyed with all his army. Those who
had not campaigned with Perozes chose Kabades as emperor, the
younger son of Perozes.* The barbarians ruled the Persians for two
years to collect their tribute.II

u Kabades, rashly using his office, decreed that women were to be
had in common. So the Persians deprived him of office, bound him,
and put him in prison.? They made Perozes' brother Biases, also
called Valas,° their emperor because there were no other sons of
Perozes. I \“ Kabades' wife looked after him in prison. The governor of
the prison fell in love with her because of her beauty. Kabades
encouraged his wife to give in to the man, in case it enabled him to
escape from the fort. This she did and was then able to visit and tend
Kabades unhindered. A friend of Kabades, named Seoses, sent a mes-
sage to Kabades through his wife that he had horses and men ready
in a certain village. When night came on, Kabades persuaded his wife
to give him her clothes and for her to put 6n his clothes and remain
in the prison. So Kabades got out of prison, escaped the notice of the
guards, and, when he was some distance from the prison, mounted a
horse and went with Seoses to the Nephthalite Huns. Their emperor
gave him his daughter in marriage and having also given him a large
army sent him with it against the Persians.’ The guards, seeing the
woman dressed in Kabades' clothes, supposed for several days that
Kabades was in prison. Kabades invaded Persia with his army of
Huns and gained control of the empire without difficulty. He
blinded Biases, also called Valas, put him in prison, and kept the
empire securely for himself, for he was shrewd and energetic. I 1° After
that he ruled eleven years.

"Theod. Lect. 406 (113. 17-20). >’ Theod. Lect. 408 (114. 1-4); cf. Nik. Kali,
xvi. 6, 128D. ¢ Cf. Nik. Kail. xvi. 36, Prok. BPi. 4. 4 Cf. Prok. BP i. 5.
"Cf. Prok. BPi. 6.

* Presumably Akakios spoke only against Basiliskos. Possibly 'Zeno' was
added later because of his heterodoxy, but more probable is de Boor's sug-
gestion that this is a corruption of Basiliskos' wife named either Zenodia or
Zenonis.

* Cf. AM 5967 but not quite in agreement with the saint's Life.

3 Peroz was killed in 484.

* Kavad did not succeed to the throne until 488, i.e. 4 years after the death

190

Chionographia AM5943

of his father.

> This presumably refers to Kavad's period in exile (496-8) with the
Hephthalite Huns after being dethroned, probably for taking revolutionary
measures inspired by Mazdakite beliefs (women in common?). His brother
Zamasp was emperor in his place.

® Valas (Oualas, Balas, Biases) in fact succeeded Peroz, as Theophanes'
chronological lists also show, reigning 4 years (484-8) until he was over-
thrown by Kavad. Theophanes' error may have come from Prok. BP i. 5.2,
who also confuses Biases with Zamasp.

? The marriage and support from the Huns in regaining his throne are
confirmed by Josh. Styl., 24, and Prok. BP i. 6. 10.

® Kavad's periods of rule were 488-98 (with a period in exile from 496 to
498, see n. 5) and 498-531. Theophanes' figure of eleven years is taken from
his chronological list of Persian kings which he shares with Agathias iv.
28-9, and ought to have included the period in exile during Zamasp's inter-
regnum. But the chronological lists of both Theophanes and Agathias give
Kavad eleven years before Zamasp's interregnum (which is given as four
years, AM 5984-7), and then a further 30 years (AM 5988-6017 i.e. 495/6 to
524/5), which still leaves Theophanes six years short of the true date

[AM 5969, AD 476/7]

Zeno, 3rd year

Valas, emperor of the Persians (4 years), 1st year’
Simplicius, 8 th year

Akakios, 6th year

Anastasios, bishop of Jerusalem (18 years), 1st year
Timothy the Cat, 2nd year

Peter the Fuller, 3rd year

In this year Illos and Trokoundos, who were besieging Zeno, seeing
that Basiliskos was not fulfilling the promises made to them, and
that the Senate, annoyed with Basiliskos' rule because of the deprav-
ity of his ways and his folly, was writing to them, made friends with
Zeno and, taking him, were making their way back to the capital.
u When Basiliskos learned of this, he dispatched his nephew
Harmatios, who was magister militum per Thracias,* with his
entire army and the contingents of Constantinople against Zeno,
making him swear on his holy baptism not to betray him. Harmatios
met Zeno at Nicaea in Bithynia and so terrified him that the latter
was on the point of retreating with his entire force of Isaurians. But
Harmatios, too, was so blinded by gifts from Zeno and by the
promise of appointment as perpetual magister militum and that his
son, Basiliskos, would be made Caesar and preside by his side, that

191

125

AM5962, Chronographia

he returned with Zeno against Basiliskos. So Zeno and Areadne
reached the capital and were received by the people and the
Senate. 1"

u Basiliskos went into the church, placed his imperial crown on
the holy table, and sought refuge in the baptistery with his wife, the
heretic Zenodia. Zeno arrived, went into the church, and then
entered the palace.I\ After sending messages to the church, he took
Basiliskos, giving him his word that he would not behead him or his
children. He then sent him to Koukousos* in Cappadocia and
ordered that he be locked up in a tower with his wife and children
and be destroyed by starvation.u® Some say that he was killed while
he was being led away. IIZeno immediately held the chariot races,
where he promoted Harmatios' son Basiliskos to be Caesar in accor-
dance with his promises. Basiliskos sat beside the emperor on his
throne and honoured the charioteers with the emperor. But Zeno
thought to himself, 'As Harmatios did not keep faith with Basiliskos
though on oath, neither will he do so with me. And if the Caesar,
who is his son, grows to manhood, he will rise up against me. For my
part, I have fulfilled my promise to him and made him m agister mil-
itum and his son Caesar.’ He gave orders for him to be executed for
perjury. He was killed on the kochlias ° of the palace as he was going
up into the Hippodrome, and his son, the Caesar, was ordained a lec-
tor. For Areadne saved him since he was her [great] nephew. Later he
served very well as bishop of Kyzikos. I1°

lIZeno abandoned Peter the Fuller because of his support for
Basiliskos. He was deposed by a vote of the eastern synod and John
was appointed in his place,’ but he was expelled after three months
and after him Stephen, a devout man, was appointed bishop of
Antioch. Peter, who was being banished to Pityoussa,® deceived
those who were taking him and sought refuge at St Theodore of
Euchaita.ll* Timothy the Cat died at this juncture’ and was
replaced by Peter Mongos, a wicked man and an enemy of truth, who
had previously been suspended. He was ordained by a single bishop
who was himself suspended. With divine zeal the monks attacked
him and drove him out after he had held the episcopate as a robber
for only thirty-six days, and they restored Timothy Salophakialos
again to his throne with due honour.IK”

"Cf. Nik. Kail. xvi. 8, 132A; Mai. 379. 4-18; Mich. Syr. ii. 144. 5 Theod.
Lect. 413 (114. 23-6) (Theophanes adds 'the heretic'); cf. Nik. Kail. xvi. 8, 132A-B.
© Mai. 380. 7-16; cf. Theod. Lect. 414 (115. 15-16). 4 Cf. Evagr. ii. 8, Mai. 381.
14-382. 9, Nik. Kail. xvi. 8, 132B. © Theod. Lect. 415 (115. i7-2t), restored
from Theophanes. £ Theod. Lect. 416 (115. 22-7) with Theophanes' variations.
Cf. Nik. Kail. xvi. 11.

192

Chronographia AM 5867

" Valas (Oualas, Balas, Biases), ruled from 484 to 488.

* By 476 Harmatios was no longer magister militum per Thracias, but
had in fact been promoted by Basiliskos to magister militum praesentalis.
See PLRE ii. 148-9, Armatus.

3 The date of Zeno's restoration was probably late August 476. See
Brooks, EHR (1893), 217, Seeck, Reg., 423, 426.

* Probably the modern Gogsyn. The Antonine itineraries place it 62
miles from Komana in Cappadocia. Other sources have the prison not at
Koukousos but at Limnae or Sasima. See PLRE ii. 214.

> The earlier sources (Malchus, Candidus, Evagr.) say that Basiliskos was
beheaded.

° The spiral staircase from the palace to the Hippodrome. Cf. AM. 5972,
6098.

7 John Kodonatos, also a Monophysite.

8 Pityoussa (Pityus, Pitzunda) in the Caucasus.

° Modern Avhat, west of Amaseia. 31 July 477.

" 'With divine zeal’, 'as a robber for only 36 days’, and 'with due honour’
are not in our text of Theod. Lect.

[AM 5970, AD 477/8]

Zeno, 4th year

Valas, 2nd year

Simplicius, 9 th year

Akakios, 7th year

Anastasios, 2nd year

Timothy Salophakialos, bishop of Alexandria again (4 years), ist
year

Stephen, bishop of Antioch (3 years), 1st year

IIln this year there was a terrifying earthquake in Constantinople on
25 September of the 1st indiction,’ and many churches, houses, and
porticoes collapsed to the ground and countless numbers of people
were buried. The globe of the statue in the Forum also fell and so did
the statue of Theodosios the elder, the one on the column of the
Tauros, and also the inner walls for a considerable distance. The
earthquake lasted a long time, n° so that the city began to stink.

u Stephen, who had been promoted by a common vote to [the see
of] Antioch, was accused before Zeno as a Nestorian by the support-
ers of Peter the Fuller. But the eastern synod, which gathered at
Laodikeia at the emperor's command, reinstated him to his throne
as guiltless.I\°

In the same year Theuderich, also called Strabos, the son of
Triarios, the nephew of the wife of Aspar (who had been destroyed
by Leo), rose up against Zeno with a mass of barbarians, since he had

193

126

AM5962, Chronographia

been a friend of Basiliskos and had been made a general’ by him.
uAfter Zeno's return Theuderich went forth to Thrace‘ and, starting
from there, plundered the area round Byzantium as far as the mouth
of the Pontos. Next, when he was on the point of being betrayed by
his kinsmen, he perceived the treachery, returned and destroyed
those who had been plotting this. He died by falling unexpectedly on
a spear that was standing in front of his tent, while he was mount-
ing his horse.1 1°

2 Theod. Lect.—not included by Hansen but cf. Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 112. 11-17.
6 Theod. Lect. 418 (116. 3-9), restored from Theophanes and Syn. Vetus, 102.
° Cf. Evagr. iii. 25.

" Stein, BE ii. 787, demonstrates, on the basis of Pamprepios' posthumous
horoscope, that this earthquake occurred in 478 and not 477. Cf. Mai. 385
(undated) and perhaps Chron. Pasch. 605 (dated to 26 Sept. 487, indiction 10
but perhaps misplaced).

* Cf. AM 5878.

3 Theophanes is the only precise evidence for this, but Maichus, frg. 17,
also states that Basiliskos honoured Theuderich.

* The remainder of this paragraph is muddled. Theophanes has appar-
ently confused the events of this year (478) both with Theuderich's revolt of
474 when Zeno first became emperor and with the events following
Marcian’s revolt (AM 5971). On Leo's death in 474, Theuderich had revolted
against Zeno, murdered the general Herakleios, presumably lost his post,
and then supported Basiliskos against Zeno. Theophanes omits the unsuc-
cessful negotiations between Theuderich and Zeno of 478, which led to
Theuderich combining with the forces of Theuderich Amal to make joint
demands on Zeno, to which Zeno eventually agreed. From these Theuderich
received, inter alia, a Roman command and money. The invasion of Thrace,
which will have followed Marcian's revolt (AM 5971) in which Theuderich
also took part, occurred in 481 (Marcell. com.) as did his death in Greece. See
PLRE ii. 1073-6, Theuderichus Strabo 5.

AM 5971 [AD 478/9]

Year of the divine Incarnation 471

Zeno, emperor of the Romans (17 years), 5th year
Valas, emperor of the Persians (4 years), 3rd year
Simplicius, bishop of Rome (14 years), 10th year
Akakios, bishop of Constantinople (17 years), 8th year
Anastasios, bishop of Jerusalem (18 years), 3rd year
Timothy, bishop of Alexandria (4 years), 2nd year
Stephen, bishop of Antioch (3 years), 2nd year

194

Chronographia AM 5867

Illn this year Marcian, the son of Anthemios who had been emperor
in Rome, the husband of Leontia, who was both the daughter of
Verina and sister of the empress Areadne, rose in revolt against the
emperor Zeno in Byzantium, on the grounds that his wife Leontia
had been born after Leo became emperor:’ for Areadne had been born
before he became emperor. A violent battle took place between Zeno
and Marcian in which Marcian won by strength of arms and drove
everyone on Zeno's side into a prison in the palace, and, with his
brothers Romulus and Prokopios fighting with him, he almost cap-
tured the imperial power. But he paid insufficient attention to the
position he had achieved by stopping for dinner and sleep. During
the night he was deprived of many of his allies by Illos the magister,
who won them over by bribes, and on the following day his forces
were so inferior that he sought refuge in the church of the Apostles,
and was then ordained presbyter by Akakios on Zeno's instructions
and banished to the castle of Papyrios in'Cappadocia.* His brothers,
Prokopios and Romulus, were arrested by Illos while they were
bathing at the Zeuxippos during the night, but escaped and reached
Rome.ll*

" Theod. Lect. 419-20 (116. 10-19) with variants in Theophanes; cf. Nik. Kali. xvi.
22, 157A-C, who cites Eustath. as source ( - frg. 3.).

* ie. she was ‘born inthe purple’, which, it could be argued, improved her

claims.

* Theophanes omits some details. Marcian was first banished to
Caesarea, from which he escaped and began a second revolt. The banish-
ment to Papyrios (Papyrios was an Isaurian brigand chief) followed its fail-
ure. On the site of the castle, see G. E. Bean and T. Mitford, Journeys in
Rough Cilicia (Vienna, 1970), p. 147. For its history, Joh. Ant., frg. 206. 2.
E. W. Brooks, EHR 8 (1893), 228, argues that it is the same as the castle of
Cheris. Zeno seems to have used the castle as a treasure house (Josh. Styl.
13, Jord. Rom. 352).

[AM 5972, AD 479/80]

Zeno, 6th year

Valas, 4th year
Simplicius, nth year
Akakios, 9th year
Anastasios, 4th year
Timothy, 3rd year
Stephen, 3rd year

195

127

128

AM 5962, Chronographia

IIn this year the magister Illos plotted with the emperor Zeno to
expel Zeno's mother-in-law Verina from the City. Having used a
trick to bring her to Chalcedon, shortly afterwards he sent her away
to the castle of Papyrios to live with Marcian and her daughter
Leontia.l\* She wrote to her daughter Areadne begging to be recalled
from banishment. The empress begged Zeno, who said to her, 'Ask
the patrician Illos about her.’ She sent for him and asked him amid
tears. But he was not persuaded, saying, 'You are seeking to make
another emperor instead of your husband.’ Enraged by this, Areadne
told the emperor, ‘Either Illos stays in the palace or I do.’ The
emperor replied, 'I want you. If you can do anything to him, do it.’
So she arranged to have him murdered,’ and ordered the cubicular-
ius Urbicius* to persuade someone to kill Illos. As he was ascending
the kochlias* of the Hippodrome, a scholarius named Spanikios*
under instructions aimed his sword at Illos' head. But the magister's
spatharios, who was attending him, took the blow on his arm, even
so, the tip of the sword cut off Ilos' right ear. Zeno had the scholar-
ius executed, assuring the magister Illos that he knew nothing about
the event, the truth being that he had not overruled the plot. When
he was cured of the wound, Illos used to wear a cap. He asked the
emperor to send him to the East so that he could enjoy a change of
air, because he was weak from the wound. The emperor, wishing to
satisfy him, appointed him magister militum? per Orientem and
gave him full authority even to appoint duces. Illos took with him
the patrician Leontios, 1» a Syrian’ by race, an excellent man both
for his education and his military experience, who was commander
of the army in Thrace, Hand with him Marsos® and the senator
Pamprepios, who had been accused of magic.? Having collected a
very large force, he went to Antioch in Syrian‘ and made his rebel-
lion clear. I \¢

2 Cf. Mai. 385. 15-386. 9; cf. Mai. at Deinsid. 35. >’ Cf. Mai. 387.1-388. 14.
° Mai. 388. 15-389. 3. ¢ Theod. Lect. 437 [121. 24]; cf. Nik. Kail. xvi. 23,
157D-160A.

" This followed Verina's attempt to assassinate Illos in 478. The quarrel
with Verina was probably in 480 and the assassination attempt in 481,
though Marcell. com. puts it in 484.

* On this influential figure, who served as praepositus under seven
emperors, see PLRE ii. 188.

The spiral staircase of the Hippodrome.

He is Sporakios in Mai. and John of Nikiu.

Late 481. See Stein, BE ii. 19.

In fact he was sent by Zeno in 484 to oppose Illos, who persuaded him
to join forces against Zeno (Josh. Styl. 14, Jord. Rom. 352).

Au Bw

196

Chronographia AM 5867

7 He was more probably an Isaurian.

8 Cf. AM 5963 for Marsos' earlier appearance.

° The posthumous horoscope of this learned astrologer and public figure
provides us with secure dates. See PLRE ii. 825-8 and references there.
Pamprepios' paganism offers an interesting variant to the rebellion’s stress
on its orthodoxy (as opposed to Zeno's heterodoxy).

[AM 5973, AD 480/1]

Zeno, 7 thyear

Kabades, emperor of the Persians (11 years), 1st year’

Simplicius, 12th year

Akakios, iothyear

Anastasios, 5 th year

Timothy, 4th year

Another Stephen bishop of Antioch, the one who was thrown into
the river Orontes (1 year), 1st year

IlIn this year, on the death of Stephen, bishop of Antioch, another
Stephen’ was ordained in his place at the command of the emperor
Zeno. The enemies of the faith, out of goodwill towards the Fuller,
killed him with sharpened reeds in the font of the holy martyr
Barlaam, and then, arming their folly with anger, threw his body into
the river Orontes. Because of the outrages committed against
Stephen, Zeno ordered Akakios of Constantinople to ordain a bishop
of Antioch and he ordained Kalandion.’ But the Antiochenes in their
ignorance had ordained John, surnamed Kodonatos, whom
Kalandion transferred to Tyre, the foremost see under Antioch.I\*

Illn the same year Timothy Salophakialos died* in Alexandria and
John the Tabennesiote was ordained, a holy man and a champion of
the correct doctrine, who had been a presbyter and oikonomos of the
Church at Alexandria. n°

Il The patrician Illos with Leontios and the others went to the cas-
tle of Papyrios and, after taking the Augusta Verina to Tarsos in
Cilicia, he made her crown Leontios the patrician as emperor outside
the city at St Peter's.” The empress Verina wrote an imperial rescript
to the people of Antioch in Syria to accept Leontios as emperor and
also sent rescripts to all the governors of the East, Egypt, and Libya to
accept Leontios as emperor and not to oppose him.II‘

" Theod. Lect. 421 (116. 20-7), restored from Theophanes; cf. Evagr. iii. 10.
> Theod. Lect. 417 (115. 28-116. 2). <= Mai. 388. 17-389. i; cf. Mai. atDeinsid.
35 (Theophanes is almost verbatim the abbreviated Mai.), Theod. Lect. 437 (121.
24-122. 10).

197

129

AM 5047 Chronogra phia

"See AM 5968, n. 8.

* There is considerable doubt about the reality of a second Stephen (also
mentioned by Nik. Chron. 132 andZach. HE iv. 12). In other accounts it is
the first (and only) Stephen who had his throat cut.

3 The unusual appointment had further ramifications. Akakios assured
Pope Simplicius that it would be confirmed by a synod at Antioch, which it
never was. Rome always remembered this failure, even raising it at the final
split of 1054 (see W. H. C. Frend, The Rise of Christianity (London, 1984),
809 and 825, n. 125).

* In June 482. John the Tabennesiote (from the name of his monastery in
Kanopos) is more often known as John Talaia.

> The coronation was on 19 July 484 according to the contemporary
astrologer Palchus, who, however, incorrectly places the event in Antioch.
Cf. AM 5976 and Stein, BE ii. 29 n. 1.

[AM 5974, AD 481/2]

Zeno, 8 thyear

Kabades, 2nd year

Simplicius, 13th year

Akakios, nth year

Anastasios, 6th year

John the Tabennesiote, bishop of Alexandria (3 years), 1st year
Kalandion, bishop of Antioch (4 years), 1st year

IllIn this year the rescripts of the empress Verina arrived and were
read, of which the content was as follows. 'The Augusta Verina to
our governors and Christ-loving people, greetings. You know that
the Empire is ours and that after the death of my husband Leo, we
appointed as emperor Traskalissaios, subsequently called Zeno, so
that our dominion would be improved. But now seeing that the State
is being carried backwards as a result of his insatiate desire, we have
decided that it was necessary to crown for you a Christian emperor
embellished by piety and justice, so that he may save the affairs of
the State and that wars be stilled. We have crowned the most pious
Leontios as emperor of the Romans, who will reward you all with his
providence.” Those who received this acclaimed Leontios as
emperor. 1°

"Mai. at De insid. 35.

* For a more detailed version of Verina's proclamation, see De insid. 35,
translated in Mai. Trans., p. 217. The stress on orthodoxy in the proclama-
tion is well noted by E. W. Brooks, EHR 8 (1893), 227.

198

Chronographia AM 5867

[AM 5975, AD 482/3]

Zeno, 9 th year

Kabades, 3rd year

Simplicius, 14th year

Akakios, 12th year

Anastasios, 7th year

John the Tabennesiote, 2nd year
Kalandion, 2nd year

Illn this year Illos and Leontios freed Longinus,’ the brother of Zeno,
and his mother from the fortress. Verina, who had fallen ill there,
died and, after some time, was brought to Byzantium by Areadne. I\’

a Cf. Mai. 389. 5-7 (not at all close).

* Longinus hadbeen imprisoned by Illos in 475 at the time that Illos was
supporting Basiliskos against Zeno. His release and return to Constan-
tinople took place in 485.

[AM 5976, AD 483/4]

Zeno, iothyear

Kabades, 4th year

Felix, bishop of Rome (9 years), 1st year’
Akakios, 13 th year

Anastasios, 8th year

John the Tabennesiote, 3rd year
Kalandion, 3rd year

II In this year Leontios arrived in Antioch as emperor on 27 June’ of
the 7th indiction, and he appointed Lilianus? as praetorian prefect.
Then he left and made war on Chalkis, his native city. Zeno dis-
patched John the Scythian with a very large force against Illos and 130
Leontios by land and sea. A violent battle took place in which Illos
and Leontios were defeated* and fled to the fortress of Papyrios,
along with the magister Pamprepios, who was said to be a magician.
Then John captured Illos' brother Trokoundos as he was departing to
make a levy among barbarians and cut off his head. Illos and
Leontios, deceived by the magister Pamprepios, the magician, spent
four years under siege, waiting for him. When they learned of his
death, they beheaded Pamprepios’ as an impostor and threw him
down from the walls. I

I IIn the same year the supporters of Peter Mongos persuaded Zeno
by means of money and quackery to expel John the Tabennesiote,

199

AM5962, Chronographia

the bishop of Alexandria,° on the grounds that he had been ordained
against his wish, and to bring Peter Mongos back again to Alexandria
from Euchaita. Then Zeno made the Henotikon, dictated, as some
say, by Akakios of Constantinople and distributed it everywhere.’
Zeno ordered Peter Mongos before his return to Alexandria to be in
communion with Simplicius of Rome and Akakios. Akakios wrote
to the Alexandrians to receive Peter Mongos and to expel John.
When John heard of Peter's coming, although the clergy together
with the people were begging him not to go as they were ready to die
on his behalf, he wisely departed without a fuss,® perceiving Peter's
intended misdeeds. n°

" Cf. Mai. 389. 2-9 and at Deinsid. 35. 6 Theod. Lect. 422-4 (116. 28-117.

* Felix was pope from 13 Mar. 483 to 1 Mar. 492.

* Since Leontios was crowned in Tarsos on 19 July 484 (see AM 5973, n. 5],
this date is wrong. The easiest solution is to emend June to July here so that
Leontios enters Antioch one week after the coronation in Tarsos. See also
Stein, BE ii. 29 n. r.

3 In fact Aelianus. See PLRE ii. 14.

* Probably Sept. 484 (Josh. Styl. 16-17).

> Late Nov. 484 (PLRE ii. 828). Pamprepios was also suspected of treach-
ery.
° Theophanes follows Theod. Lect. exactly, but the usual version is that
Akakios, not Peter, persuaded Zeno to expel John, which is reflected below.
Simplicius, in a letter of 15 July 482 (Ep. ij, PL 58: 55 ff.) agreed that the
charges against John should be investigated, but that Peter Mongos was not
to be considered. John went to Rome and eventually became bishop of Nola
in South Italy.

7 Zeno's rescript, known as the 'Henotikon' or ‘instrument of unity’, was
addressed on 28 July 482 to 'the bishops, monks, and laymen of Alexandria,
Egypt, and Cyrenaica’. Its primary aim was to end the schism in the
Egyptian church which had followed the expulsion of Dioskoros by the
Council of Chalcedon. The Henotikon also aimed at reconciling Alexandria
with Constantinople. In effect it gave in to the opponents of Chalcedon on
every important point, but managed to avoid condemning Chalcedon by
ignoring it. Versions of the text survive in Evagr. iii. 14, Nik. Kail. xvi. 12,
Zach. HE v. 8, and Liberatus of Carthage. A complete text was reconstructed
by E. Schwartz, 'Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1431, eine anti-chalkedonische
Sammlung aus der Zeit Kaiser Zenos', ABAW, Phil-hist. Kl. Abt. 32/6
(1926), nos. 75 ff. 52-4.

5 Sept. 482. Theophanes has added 'wisely' and 'without a fuss’.

200

Chronographia AM 5867

AM 5977 [AD 484/5]

Year of the divine Incarnation 477

Zeno, emperor of the Romans (17 years), nth year
Kabades, emperor of the Persians (11 years), 5 th year
Felix, bishop of Rome (9 years), 2nd year

Akakios, bishop of Constantinople (17 years), 14th year
Anastasios, bishop of Jerusalem (18 years), 9th year
Peter Mongos, bishop of Alexandria (6 years), 1st year
Kalandion, bishop of Antioch (4 years), 4th year

IlIn this year Theuderich, son of Valamer,’ [was summoned by Zeno
to Byzantium], Theuderich had a great reputation among both the
barbarians and the Romans for bravery and providence and was not
without a share of education. For he had once been a hostage in
Byzantium’ and had studied under the best teachers, while his father
Valamer led the Goths after the sons of Attila in the time of Leo's
rule. So Zeno now summoned him from Thrace? to Byzantium and
appointed him consul* and commander of Thrace,’ and sent him out
with John the Scythian against Illos. After Illos and Leontios had
been shut up in the fortress of Papyrios, Theuderich left John to
besiege them and he himself went to Zeno.° He then set off for
Thrace and after setting up camp there, he marched against
Byzantium.’ Restrained by pity for the City and no other reason, as
they say, he returned to Thrace and, persuaded by Zeno, marched
down into Italy.* After overcoming Odoacer in a great battle,° he
donned the regalia of a king in Ravenna.II? He subdued many other
barbarians and in particular subjected the Vandals without even
using arms against them. For Gizerich had already died before
Theuderich came to Rome.’°® Theuderich ruled Rome and all the
West.1]™!

" Cf. Evagr. iii. 27, Nik. Kail. xvi. 23, 157D-160A. > Nik. Kail. xvi. 23, 160
A-B (the source is Eustath.).

" He was in fact Theuderich's uncle (PLRE ii. ri35~6, Valamer).

* 0.461/2-471/2, i.e. from the age of 8 to 18.

3 Theuderich's army had been ravaging Thrace, Macedonia, and Thessaly
intermittently since 478. By a treaty in 483, Theuderich became magister
militum praesentalis, was promised the consulship, and obtained land for
the Goths in Dacia and Moesia. On Theuderich's manceuvrings up to 484,
see P. J. Heather, Goths and Romans $32-489 (Oxford, 1991), ch. 9.

4 In 484.

> This is unlikely if Theuderich already held (since 483) the superior com-
mand of magister militum praesentalis, which he appears to have continued

201

131

AM 5977 Chionogiaphia

holding till 487 (so PLRE ii. 1081), but it is also possible that he was replaced
by Cottomenes after returning from the East.

© The alternative version (Joh. Ant., frg. 214. 6) is that he was recalled
early (at Nicomedia) because of doubts regarding his loyalty. The absence of
any reference to the campaign in Ennodius' Panegyric supports this view.
But John also has the Goths serving in Isauria, which would have been
unlikely without their king.

? He ravaged Thrace in 486 and attacked Byzantium in 487.

8 In 488.

° There were various battles between 489 and the final victory of 493;
see J. Moorhead, Theoderic in Italy (Oxford, 1992), ch. 1.

* Gizerich died on 25 Jan. 477. The Vandals had probably made peace
with Zeno in 474 (Malch., frg. 3) or 476 (Prok. BVi. 7. 26), but there is no
other evidence for their being subject to the Ostrogoths.

“As Theophanes = Nik. Kali, verbatim here and Eustath. is Nik. Kall.'s
source, it is reasonable to say that here Theophanes' source is actually
Eustath. It is then also likely that ‘a’ is also from Eustath., who was used by
both Evagr. and Nik. Kali.

[AM 5978, AD 485/6]

Zeno, 12th year

Kabades, 6th year

Felix, 3rd year

Akakios, 15 th year

Anastasios, 10th year

Peter Mongos, 2nd year

Peter the Fuller, 43rd bishop of Antioch, for the 2nd time (3 years),
ist year

Illn this year the eastern bishops wrote to Akakios censuring him for
having received Mongos into communion.] \* He disregarded them
and insolently forced everyone to be in communion with
Mongos.I 1°! Those from the capital and the East beseeched Felix,
who had become bishop of Rome after the death of Simplicius,
informing him that Akakios was the cause of the troubles. Among
these was John of Alexandria, who came to Rome and made the
same point. Felix, after holding a synod in the shrine of the chief
apostle Peter, sent two bishops and an ekdikos to Constantinople,”
as well as writing to Zeno and Akakios to expel Peter Mongos from
Alexandria as a heretic. I 1°

° Theod. Lect. 426 (118. 18-21). > Theod. Lect. 426 (118. 22), restored from
Theophanes. ° Theod. Lect. 431 (119. 10-16).

202

Chionographia AM 5943

* Among the patriarchs Martyrios of Jerusalem, who succeeded
Anastasios in 478, appears to have had no difficulty in accepting the
Henotikon, while Kalandion of Antioch refused to subscribe and was ban-
ished (as Theophanes records at AM 5982,, although the chronological notice
rightly makes AM 5977 [484/5] his last year). He was replaced by Peter the
Fuller, who had no difficulty with Peter Mongos. Cf. Theophanes' repetition
at AM 5980.

* In 483 (summer). Felix acted only on the report of the Sleepless monks,
who remained supporters of Chalcedon (Evagr. iii. 18).

[AM 5979, AD 486/7]

Zeno, 13th year

Kabades, 7th year

Felix, 4th year

Akakios, 16th year
Anastasios, nth year
Peter Mongos, 3rd year
Peter the Fuller, 2nd year

In this year the delegation from Rome was arrested in Abydos on the
advice of Zeno and Akakios, their letter was confiscated, IK and they
were thrown into prison.’ Zeno threatened to execute them unless
they joined in communion with Akakios and Peter Mongos.I\?

* Theod. Lect. 432 (119. 20-2). > Cf. AM 5980 and Theod. Lect. 433 (119.
235}
* This ill-treatment of the delegates by Zeno and Akakios fits badly with
the events which follow (as given in other sources, especially Evagr.). Evagr.
notes that Pope Felix had written to the delegates ordering them to confer
with the abbot of the Sleepless monks before taking any action. The arrest is
more likely to mean that the delegates were escorted from Abydos straight
to Constantinople, so preventing any discussion with the Sleepless monks.
Evagr.'s account (iii. 18-21) does not suggest any ill-treatment. Cf. AM 5980,
n. 2.

AM 5980 [AD 487/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 480

Zeno, emperor of the Romans (17 years), 14th year
Kabades, emperor of the Persians (11 years), 8th year
Felix, bishop of Rome (9 years), 5th year

Akakios, bishop of Constantinople (17 years), 17th year
Anastasios, bishop of Jerusalem (18 years), 12th year

203

132

AM5962, Chronographia

Peter Mongos, bishop of Alexandria (6 years), 4th year
Peter, 43rd bishop of Antioch (3 years), 3rd year

IlIn this year Illos and Leontios, who after many battles had been
besieged for four years in the fortress of Papyrios, were captured
through the treachery of Trokoundos' brother-in-law, who had been
sent by Zeno to deceive them. They were beheadedll° and their
heads were sent to Zeno and brought into the Hippodrome fixed on
poles. From there [they were taken] across to Sykai and exposed to
public view.ll®

un On Akakios' advice Zeno was forcing the eastern bishops to sub-
scribe to the Henotikon and to enter into communion with Peter
Mongos.’ After maltreating the legates from Felix of Rome and
enticing them by bribery, Zeno persuaded them, contrary to their
instructions, to have communion with Akakios. And yet the ortho-
dox protested solemnly against them thrice, first by fixing a rope to
a hook and having one of them suspend it in public; second by plac-
ing it in a book and third by putting it in a basket of vegetables.
When Felix learned of the actions of his legates, he deposed them
and also wrote to depose Akakios.” The bearer of this evaded those
at Abydos and reached the monastery of Dios.? The monks of Dios
served Akakios with the letter on a Sunday in the sanctuary. The
supporters of Akakios killed some of the monks who had served the
letter and punished others by imprisoning them. Akakios took no
notice of the deposition and removed the name of Felix from the dip-
tychs. II

" Theod. Lect. 438 (12,2. 11-14). b> Mai. 389. n-14; cf. Mai. at De insid. 35.
© Theod. Lect. 433-4 (119. 23-121. 12).

" Cf. AM 5978.

* The delegates were fooled by Akakios into taking part in a service in
which Peter Mongos was named in the diptychs. This was reported to Pope
Felix by a Sleepless monk. Felix then summoned a synod of 27 bishops in
Rome which excommunicated Akakios and the delegates (28 July 484). On
1 Aug., Felix wrote to Zeno telling him to choose between the apostle Peter
and Peter Mongos {Ep. 8). As the rest of Theophanes' account shows, it was
the opponents of Zeno and Akakios who seem to have ill-treated the dele-
gates. On the Acacian schism generally, see Frend, Monophysite Movement,
182-3, 235-9-

3 On the outskirts of Constantinople but within the walls, the monastery
had been founded by the Syrian monk Dios with support from Theodosios I.
It was probably the second oldest monastery in Constantinople after that of
Dalmatos. See Janin, Eglises, 97-9.

Chronographia AM 5867

[IAM 5981, AD 488/9]

Zeno, 15 th year

Kabades, 9 th year

Felix, 6 th year

Fravitas, bishop of Constantinople (3 months), 1st year
Anastasios, 13th year

Peter Mongos, 5 thyear

[No entry for Antioch]

In this year Kalandion, bishop of Antioch, brought the relics of
Eustathios the Great from Philippi, where the holy man had died in
exile.’ The citizens of Antioch went out ten miles to meet them
with great honour. Those who had separated from the Church
because of the holy man were now reunited, one hundred years after
his death.I\’

un On Akakios' death Fravitas, after holding the bishopric for three
months, wrote to Felix that he was in communion with him, and not
with Peter Mongos, and he wrote to Mongos that he was in commu-
nion with him and rejected Felix of Rome. But Felix received a copy
of the letter sent to Mongos, which had been intercepted by the ortho-
dox, and when the messengers of Fravitas arrived with the synodical
letter, Felix sent them back in dishonour. When Fravitas had died,
Euphemios, presbyter of Neapolis, who was responsible for poor-
relief, obtained the bishopric of Constantinople and immediately
expunged the name of Mongos from the diptychs with his own hands.
Then he sat on his throne and inserted the name of Felix of Rome.ll°

° Theod. Lect. 435 (121. 14-18]. b Nik. Kail. xvi. 19, 153B-D; cf. Theod.
Lect. 440 (122. 19-23), Geo. Mon. 521. 2.

" For Eustathios, cf. AM 5861 (120 years, not roo). Theophanes' narrative
is out of kilter with his chronological table.

AM 5982 [AD 489/90]

Year of the divine Incarnation 482

Zeno, emperor of the Romans (17 years), 16th year
Kabades, emperor of the Persians (11 years), 10th year
Felix, bishop of Rome (9 years), 7th year

Euphemios, bishop of Constantinople (7 years), 1st year
Anastasios, bishop of Jerusalem (18 years), 14th year
Peter Mongos, bishop of Alexandria (6 years), 6th year
Palladios, bishop of Antioch (10 years), 1st year

205

134

135

AM 5962, Chronographia

Illn this year Peter Mongos died in Alexandria’ and Athanasios, sur-
named Kelites, was ordained in his place. The emperor Zeno, freed
from the pressure of the usurpers, expelled Kalandion from the
Church of Antioch and banished him to Oasis’ and reinstated Peter
the Fuller.* On the pretext of their support for the usurpers but in
fact because (they had not accepted) Zeno's Henotikon, (he ordered
that the following be driven out of their churches:) Nestor (of
Tarsos, Kyros of Hierapolis, John of Kyrestai,)* Romanus of
Chalcedon,’ Eusebios of Samosata, Julian of Mopsuestia, Paul of
Constantina, Manos of Hemeria, and Andrew of Theodosioupolis.
After entering Antioch, Peter the Fuller did much wrong, with
anathematizations of the synod, expulsions of innocent bishops,
illegal substitutions and ordinations, and other acts of this kind.11]*
Earlier he had added to the Trishagion 'Christ the King, who wast
crucified for us.’ On his return Peter removed the phrase ‘Christ the
King.''”°

IIXenaias, the servant of Satan, was teaching that images of the
Lord and of the saints should not be accepted. A Persian by race and
a slave by status, he had fled from his master in the times of
Kalandion and stirred up the villages round Antioch against the
faith, claiming he was a cleric though he was not baptized.’
Kalandion drove him away, but Peter the Fuller ordained him bishop
of Hierapolis,® changing his name to Philoxenos. When Peter learned
later that the man was unbaptized, he said that the ordination suf-
ficed instead of baptism. II

The most orthodox Euphemios drove out of Church the silen-
tiarius Anastasios, the one who subsequently ruled wickedly as
emperor, for being a heretic and of the same persuasion as Eutyches.”
When Euphemios saw Anastasios creating a riot, he overturned his
chair in the church and threatened him that, unless he stopped, he
would tonsure his head and parade him in mockery among the
crowd. He brought the charge before Zeno and received authority
over Anastasios. 1

llIZeno asked Maurianus, the most learned comes (for he had
knowledge of certain secrets’® and used to give predictions), "Who
will be emperor after me?' He replied that 'A certain ex-silentiary
will receive from you both your rule and your wife.’ (Zeno detained
the ex-silentiary Pelagios,)" a patrician, who was learned, pious,
intelligent, and virtuous,” unjustly confiscated his property and
cast him into prison, ordering that he be executed by the excubitors
who guarded him. When the prefect Arkadios heard what had hap-
pened, he rebuked the emperor. When the emperor heard about this,
he ordered that Arkadios be killed as he entered the palace. The pre-

206

Chronographia AM 5867

feet was informed of this and sought refuge in the church. So he
escaped from a bitter death, but his house was confiscated.! \°

<* Theod. Lect. 443 (12.3. 24-124. 28), restored from Theophanes; cf. Nik. Kail. xvi.
10, 133B-C. 6 Theod. Lect. 427 (118. 23-6]; cf. Theod. Lect. 545 (John
Diakrinomenos, 155. 12-13), Nik. Kail. xv. 28, 84B, i.e. insertion of Kalandion into
text and translation, rejected by Combefis on evidence of Kedr. ° Cf. Theod.
Lect. KG 35 (124. 3-12), Nik. Kail. xvi. 27. 4 Theod. Lect. 441(123. 12-17) and
KG 33 (123. 1-7). © Mai. 390. 4-391. 1, Chron. Pasch. 606. 3-21.

" 29 Oct. 489.

* In 484. Cf. the chronological table which makes AM 5977 his first year,
and AM 5978, n. 1 and AM 5981. For Oasis see AM 5925.

> Peter the Fuller's third tenure, 485-9.

* Kyrrhos. The text here and above is restored from Anastasius’ Latin
translation.

> In fact Chalkis. See E. Schwartz, PS 209 n. 2, E. Honigmann, Eveques
et eveches monophysites d'Asie Anterieure au Vie Siecle (Louvain, 1951), 5.

® Cf. AM 5956b, 5966. At Chalcedon the orthodox had used the wording
"Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us', to show
their approval of Dioskoros' condemnation. To this Peter had supposedly
added 'Christ the King who wast crucified for us' which was still orthodox in
that it refers the passion to the person of Christ alone. The deletion of 'Christ
the King' suggested that Christ as God and one of the Trinity had suffered on
the cross, a sense which was unacceptable to Chalcedonists, with their stress
on Christ's two natures. See Frend, Monophy site Movement, 168. Evagr. iii.
44 states that Peter simply added 'thou who wast crucified’.

7 Theod. Lect. (124. 9-10), claims to rely on the evidence of Persian bish-
ops. Against this see Honigmann, Eveques monophy sites, 4-5.

® In 485 in place of Kyros, deposed in Sept. 484 (see ‘a’ above). For
Xenaias, contrast the Monophysite version in Chr. ss, r68 and Mich. Syr.
un. 166, and see also AM 6011, n. 16. Bishop of Hierapolis (Mabbug, Membij)
to 519, Xenaias/Philoxenos stressed Syriac ‘in what was becoming a dis-
tinctly Syriac-speaking Monophysitism' (Frend, Monophysite Movement,
185) being ‘versed in everything that is contained in our writing and in our
language’ (Mich. Syr. ii. 166). Mabbug ‘was the major assembly point for all
offensives against Persia down the Euphrates’ (Frend, Monophysite
Movement, 185 citing V. Chapot, La Frontiere de I'Euphrate de Pompee a la
conquete arabe (Paris, 1907), 256-7, 338-9.

° For Euphemios' later opposition to Anastasios’ becoming emperor, see
AM 5983! For Anastasios’ short-listing for the patriarchate of Antioch, cf. AM
5983b, where Theophanes again refers to him as the one ‘who ruled
wickedly as emperor’.

"© fxvoTiKa i.e. he was an astrologer.

"Restored by de Boor from Chron. Pasch. 606. 8-9.

* An epic poet (see AM 5983) and historian, he was charged with pagan-
ism, but the real charge was his criticism of Zeno. See PLRE ii. 857.

207

AM5962, Chronographia

AM 5983 [AD 490/1]

Year of the divine Incarnation 483

Zeno, emperor of the Romans (17 years), 17th year
Kabades, emperor of the Persians (11 years), nth year
Felix, bishop of Rome (9 years), 8th year

Euphemios, bishop of Constantinople (7 years), 2nd year
Anastasios, bishop of Jerusalem (18 years), 15 th year
Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (7 years), 1st year
Palladios, bishop of Antioch (10 years), 2nd year

Illn this year Felix received the synodical letter of Euphemios and
acknowledged him as orthodox, but did not accept him as bishop
because he had not removed the names of Akakios and his successor
Fravitas from the diptychs.lI"

IlIn the same year Peter the Fuller died’ and Palladios was pro-
moted to be bishop. He had been presbyter of the church of the holy
first-martyr Thekla in Seleukeia. The other candidates were John
the son of Constantine and Anastasios the silentiarius who (later)*
ruled wickedly as emperor. 1°

1 iZeno, exulting in the destruction of the usurpers, had recourse to
confiscations and unjust executions, accusing everybody either of
having been allied with them or of having encouraged their attack.
He senselessly killed Kottais,? who along with John the Scythian
had subdued Illos and Leontios by siege, and also the patrician
Pelagios, an admirable man and a noteworthy epic poet, for being
prudent and just.ll*

II Amidst all this Zeno was seized by epilepsy and died,* while con-
tinually repeating the name of Pelagios whom he had murdered
unjustly.I\° He left no son, but [did leave] his brother Longinus who
had twice been consul and was leader of the entire Senate, a stupid,
overbearing, and licentious man. He had many Isaurians with him in
Byzantium as well as the magister Longinus, who was his friend, and
relying on these he expected to gain the Empire without difficulty.
But when Areadne, the Senate, and the whole army proclaimed
Anastasios the silentiary as emperor, Longinus lost his hopes. 1

ut When Anastasios became emperor, he was asked by the patriarch
Euphemios for a written declaration not to upset any part of the
Church or the creed; [for Euphemios] described him as unworthy of
the Christians and of the Empire.° With the empress Areadne putting
pressure on him and also the Senate, he gave his signature to a state-
ment that he accepted the decisions of the synod at Chalcedon as the
definition of faith. 11’ And so Anastasios was crowned ‘by him'’® and
married Areadne. (He had not been previously married.)!*?

208

Chronographia AM 5867

lIThe Manichaeans and Arians were delighted with Anastasios,
the Manichaeans because the emperor's mother was a zealous devo-
tee of theirs, the Arians because his uncle Klearchos, the brother of
his impious mother, shared their beliefs. I1*

u This year, in which Zeno died and Anastasios became emperor,
was the 5999th since Adam according to the Romans, but according
to the accurate and true computation of the Alexandrians it was the
5983rd, the 207th since the rule of Diocletian and 483rd since the
divine Incarnation, the indiction being the 14th. n””° Anastasios was
crowned in the Kathisma of the Hippodrome in the aforesaid 14th
indiction on 14 April, it being Holy Thursday."

" Theod. Lect. 442 (123. 18-23] restored from Syn. Vetus and Theophanes. Cf. KG

34 (123. 9—11 ], Nik. Kail. xvi. 19. 5 Theod. Lect. 445 (125. 20-3) restored from
Theophanes and KG 38 (125. 16-19) = Vict. Tonn. a.491; cf. Nik. Kali. xvi. 20.
¢ Cf. Evagr. iii. 27, citing Eustath. 4 Cf. Nik. Kail. xvi. 24, Evagr. iii. 29.
« Cf. Evagr. iii. 29. / Theod. Lect. 446 (125. 25-126. 15); cf. KG 39 (126.
2-8) = Vict. Tonn. a.491. « Cf. Nik. Kali. xvi. 25. » Theod. Lect. 448
(126. 18-20). ' Cf. Evagr. iii. 29, Mai. 391. 5-6, based on Eustath., Mich. Syr. ii.
167-8. " Mai. 392. 4-5.

* Tn 489.

* Added from Anastasius’ Latin translation. Cf. 5982d.

3 Perhaps identical with Cottomenes, magister militum 484-8.

* g Apr. 491.

? ee the account in Cer. 1. 92. Areadne asked the ministers and the
Senate, with the approval of the army, to select a pious emperor. The min-
isters held a council at which Urbicius (cf: AM 5972) proposed that the choice
should be left to Areadne. The patriarch summoned her and she chose
Anastasios.

° Cf. AM 598ad.

7 The document was lodged in the archives of Hagia Sophia under the
care of the treasurer and future patriarch Makedonios. Evagr. iii. 32.

8 20 May 491. De Boor rejects 'by him' on the basis of its omission by
Anastasius and MS tradition 'x’. It occurs only in tradition 'z' (possibly on
the basis of Petr. Patr. as in Cer.). Tradition 'y' has ‘by Areadne’.

° He did have an illegitimate son. Cf. am 5997.

*° Evagr. iii. 29 also ends his account of Zeno with a list of time-spans
which he says he took from Eustath. Evagr.'s list does not include either of
the Anno Mundi calculations. Mai. also ends his book 15 and his account of
Zeno with an addition of the years since Adam, also giving the Alexandrine
calculation. Mich. Syr. has access to two traditions, one putting the end of
the sixth millennium in the 2nd year of Anastasios’ reign and the other in
the 14th year (AD 504/5), though he also says that this was year 814 of the
Greek calendar (AD 503). The end of the sixth millenium in Byzantine
numerology could mark the Second Coming but it seems unlikely that
Theophanes is making any particular point. See Mango, Byzantium, 192-8.

209

137

AM 5983 Chronographia

“14 Apr. 49r was in fact Easter Day, but Theophanes' Thursday is sup-
ported by Zach. HE vii. r, who makes it the 4th day of Holy Week (ie.
Thursday). Our MS of Mai. omits ‘in the Kathisma of the Hippodrome’.

AM 5984 [AD 491/2]

Year of the divine Incarnation 484

Anastasios, emperor of the Romans (27 years), 1st year

Zamasphos, son of Perozes, emperor of the Persians (4 years), 1st year’
Felix, bishop of Rome (9 years), gth year

Euphemios, bishop of Constantinople (7 years), 3rd year
Anastasios, bishop of Jerusalem (18 years), 16th year

Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (7 years), 2nd year

Palladios, bishop of Antioch (10 years), 3rd year

In this year, when Anastasios of Dyrrachium [surnamed] Twin-
pupil* had become emperor,I\* Zeno's brother Longinus staged a
revolt against him. Anastasios captured him and sent him to ban-
ishment to Alexandria in Egypt and ordered that he be ordained a
presbyter. After living for seven more years he died in Alexandria. u”
The emperor, being also suspicious of the magister Longinus and the
resident Isaurians, relieved him of office.I 1

Since Peter the Fuller wanted to return from banishment to his
throne at Antioch, the emperor did recall him from banishment, but
did not allow him to return to Antioch, where he caused Palladios to
be ordained.? I[Euphemios of Constantinople gathered the resident
bishops and ratified the holy Synod of Chalcedon. 1° When John the
Tabennesiote, who was in Rome, heard that Anastasios had become
emperor, he came to Byzantium expecting some worthwhile recom-
pense from him in return for the favour he had bestowed on him in
Alexandria, when, destitute after a shipwreck, Anastasios had been
taken in and cared for so well by John as to make him forget his mis-
fortune.° But when Anastasios heard that John had arrived, with
considerable ingratitude he ordered him to be banished, without
receiving him at all. John learned of this in advance and was saved
by fleeing to Rome! I*

" Cf. Mai. 392. 1-3, Theod. Lect. 446 (12.5. 25-6). > Joh. Ant., frg. 214b; ef.
Zon. xiv. 3. 20. " Cf. Evagr. iii. 29, Joh. Ant., frg. 214b. 4 Theod. Lect.
451 (127. 18-19), restored from Theophanes; cf. KG 41 (127. 2-3) - Vict. Tonn. a.492,
Cyr. Scyth. V. Sab. 50, p. 140. © Theod. Lect. 452 (127. 20-5), restored from

Theophanes,- cf. Nik. Kail. xvi. 26, 168D-169A, KG 42 (127. 5-8) - Vict. Tonn. a.494.

* Zamasphos (Zamasp) reigned 496-8, interrupting Kavad's reign of
488-,3r.

210

Chronographia AM 5987

* He had one black and one blue pupil.

3 According to Joh. Ant., frg. roo, Anastasios used the pretext of a riot in
the Hippodrome in 491 (mentioned by Marcell. com.) to expel Longinus. He
says Longinus was banished to the Thebaid and died 8 years later.
Theophanes is the only source for his ordination. Theophanes' reference to
a revolt is perhaps a confusion with AM 5985, although Joh. Ant. seems to
confirm Theophanes that a revolt had already begun in Isauria, led by
Longinus of Kardala, the ex-magister militum.

* Evagr. iii. 29 confuses this Longinus (of Kardala, the ex-magiser) with
Zeno's brother. Presumably here Eustathios of Epiphaneia is the common
source for Theophanes and Evagr. but Theophanes has avoided Evagr.'s
error.

> Theophanes appears to be forgetting that he had recorded the appoint-
ment of Palladios under AM 5983.

® John the Tabennesiote, the ex-patriarch of Alexandria (cf. AM 5976) had
been stirring up trouble in Rome. Vict. Tonn. a.484 also refers to Anastasios’
old friendship with John. This may give some semblance of support to John
of Nikiu's claim (89. 2-17) that Zeno exiled Anastasios. Cf. E. Schwartz, PS

273.

[AM 5985, AD 492/3]

Anastasios, 2nd year

Zamasphos, 2nd year

Gelasios, bishop of Rome (5 years), 1st year’
Euphemios, 4th year

Anastasios, 17th year

Athanasios, 3rd year

Palladios, 4th year

In this year the emperor Anastasios expelled the Isaurians, who
were in Constantinople, because of their many outrages.” After
departing they plotted to rebel.I\*° The ex-magister Longinus, after,
gathering these plus another force of barbarians and robbers num-
bering about 150,000, and relying on a good supply of weapons and
money which Zeno had stored in Isauria, proceeded to the land of
the Isaurians. The emperor had acquiesced in his departure’
although suspecting an attack. Longinus immediately rose in revolt
and advanced as far as Kotyaeion* in Phrygia, plundering many
cities, though he himself did not command the army. For this was
done by Ninilingis,> who had been appointed governor of Isauria® in
the time of Zeno, a very bold man, and by Athenodoros,’ a very silly
man, one of the senators, and by Konon the bishop of Apameia,® who
had abandoned his throne and changed his status from priest to that
of an armed soldier and a general. Against them Anastasios opposed

211

138

am5962, Chronographia

the Roman army, with John the Scythian as its commander, the one
who had suppressed the usurpation of Illos and Leontios, together
with John surnamed Kyrtos, both being commanders of the Thracian
army,’ and Diogenes’® (these men were comites of the scholae) and
certain other laudable men. A battle was fought near Kotyaeion, the
general Ninilingis was killed and, with most of the Isaurian force
destroyed, the rest scarcely reached the safety of their own country.
If the Romans had not delayed over the spoils, they would have com-
pletely won the war. But since they made this mistake, the
Isaurians, after getting control of a stronghold on the top of Mount
Tauros, held out fighting into the third year," secure in their posi-
tion among the towns and strongholds above the Tauros.I\°

" Theod. Lect. 449 (126. 21-3). > Cf. Evagr. iii. 35, Nik. Kali. xvi. 36,
196A-C.

" Gelasios was pope from 1 Mar. 492 to 21 Nov. 496.

* According to Evagr. (probably from Eustath.), the Isaurians were ban-
ished at their own request, i.e. they were victims rather than perpetrators of
the outrages.

Joh. Ant., frg. 214. 6, says he was banished.

The modern Kiitahya.

Bastard half-brother of Illos, prre ii. 683-4, Lilingis.

i.€. comes et praeses Isauriae, perhaps since 484. This is the only evi-
dence.

? Cf. AM 5987, son-in-law of the John who betrayed Euphemios' remarks
to Anastasios.

® He may have had a military career before becoming a bishop, probably
in 484. He was highly regarded by Zeno, who had recalled him from his bish-
opric to take up a command against Illos. See prre ii. 307.

pLrE ii. 618, having argued that John the Scythian was magister miti-
tum per Orientem in 483-98 and that John Kyrtos WaS_ magister militum
pracsentalis i 492-9, takes this to mean that the troops under their com-
mand were drawn from the Thracian region and that they were not magistri
militum per Thracia. We do not, however, know enough about magistri
milium per Thracias at this time (with evidence only of a Julian for 493 and
a Philoxenos for some time under Anastasios) to be able to reject
Theophanes' statement.

* In other sources and at AM 6onh he is Diogenianos. See pzre ii. 362.
But he is possibly identical with a Diogenes, comes magnificentissimus,
known from an inscription to have repaired fortifications somewhere in the
Tauric Chersonese in 487/8. See pzre ii. 361, Diogenes 7.

This is consistent with Theophanes' end for the war at AM 5988 (495/6).
Theod. Lect. says it lasted at least 5 years, i.e. till 497 or beyond, while
Marcell. com. ends it in 498.

au Rw

Chronographia AM 5987

[AM 5986, AD 493/4]

Anastasios, 3rd year
Zamasphos, 3rd year
Gelasios, 2nd year
Euphemios, 5 th year
Anastasios, 18 th year
Athanasios, 4th year
Palladios, 5 th year

In this year Claudiopolis,' which lies in the plain between the two
Tauroi, was captured by Diogenes. The Isaurians, not putting up
with this, descended from the Tauros and besieged Diogenes for a
long time, so that his army was in danger of perishing through
hunger. But John Kyrtos went over the narrow passes of the Tauros,
captured the guards, and, attacking suddenly, destroyed the army of
the besiegers, while. Diogenes, too, made a sortie. It was then that
the bishop Konon died shortly after being wounded, and the Romans
gained this second very great victory. I lIn the same year Zamasphes,
the son of the Persian emperor Perozes, after driving out Kabades,
ruled the Persians for four years in the middle of Kabades' period as
ruler. I \*”

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 154 (not close).

* Modern Mut in Cilicia.

* Note the contradiction between the narrative and the chronological
table, which makes this Zamasp's third year and has Kavad beginning again
in AM 5988 after Zamasp's four years. Thus Theophanes recognizes the inter-
ruption but peculiarly sees it as two separate reigns. In fact Kavad reigned
488-531, interrupted by Zamasp 496-8.

[AM 5987, AD 494/5]

Anastasios, 4th year

Zamasphos, 4th year

Gelasios, 3rd year

Euphemios, 6th year

Martyrios, bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), 1st year
Athanasios, 5 th year

Palladios, 6th year

In this year a certain Longinus, known as Selinountios,' who lived
in Isaurian Antioch,” which lies on a high mountain on the southern
coast of the territory, brought in food supplies to the Isaurians,

213

139

am 5987 Chionographia

importing these from everywhere in numerous cargo vessels.
Longinus the magister and Athenodoros remained in this difficult
terrain.

uThe emperor, wearied by the prolongation of the war, told the
bishop Euphemios in confidence that he longed for peace, and
ordered him to convene the resident bishops as if to make a plea on
behalf of the Isaurians. Euphemios revealed the secret to the patri-
cian John, father-in-law of Athenodoros, the leader of the rebellion.
He raced off and announced this to the emperor, which roused the
emperor Anastasios to an irreconcilable hatred of the bishop
Euphemios.I\* For this reason he imputed to Euphemios the plots of
the Isaurians. I\? Some persons who were plotting against Euphemios
engaged a man to strike him on the head with a sword in front of the
martyrium. But Paul, the ekdikes of church, who towered above the
others, took the blow on his head and endangered himself, but he
killed the plotter with what is known as a sera u? Once again an
ambush was set to kill Euphemios at the liturgical gathering ‘of the
Mount", but he escaped to safety by putting on civilian clothes.I \‘
The emperor Anastasios used force to seize his confession’ from
Euphemios. n°

° Theod. Lect. 449 (126. 24-127. 14). >’ Theod. Lect. 455 (128. 14).
© Theod. Lect. 453 (127. 26-30). 4 Cf. Theod. Lect. 454 (128. 11-13).
¢ Theod. Lect. 447 (126. 16-17) cf. KG40 (126. 10-11) - Vict. Tonn. a.491.

" i.e. of Selinus in Isauria.

* Antiochia ad Cragum, a short distance south-east of Selinus.

3 Taken to mean 'sword' by Anastasius in his Latin translation, it is
described as a bolt for locking doors by Eustathios, commentary on Odyssey
x, and it is also so used in a gloss on ‘o*Ao? (= bolt) at Psalm 147.
Theophanes has also simplified the version in Theod. Lect. who says
Euphemios' attacker was killed not by Paul but by an unnamed cleric.

* Hansen, 128, suggests the Feast of the Transfiguration on 6 Aug. But
this probably refers to the Mount of Olives (‘EXcLLWV opos) above Galata, site
of a church of the Maccabees, in which the service of Ascension was cele-
brated in the patriarch’s presence: Vita Datma, ed. M. Gedeon, Bucavrivov
€oproXoyiov (Constantinople, 1899), 146. Cf. J. Pargoire, EO 3 (1899-1900),
160. The liturgical gathering would have been, therefore, that of Ascension
Day.

> This could refer either to an admission of guilt by Euphemios or, more
probably, to Anastasios’ confession of faith, locked up under the care of
Euphemios (AM 5983".

214

Chronographia AM 5988

am _ 5988 [ad 495/6]

Year of the divine Incarnation 488

Anastasios, emperor of the Romans (27 years), 5 th year
Kabades, emperor of the Persians (30 years), 1st year’
Gelasios, bishop of Rome (5 years), 4th year

Euphemios, bishop of Constantinople (7 years), 7th year
Martyrios, bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), 1st year
Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (7 years), 6th year
Palladios, bishop of Antioch (10 years), 7th year

In this year John the Scythian” besieged and captured the ex-magis-
ter Longinus, Longinus Selinountios, Athenodoros, and the other
rebels. After beheading them, he sent their heads to the emperor
Anastasios in Byzantium.* Anastasios held the chariot races and
paraded in triumph the heads of the rebels and the other Isaurians,
who had been sent in chains, and, after fixing the heads on stakes he
displayed them publicly in Sykai, and transferred the mass of the
Isaurians to Thrace. He rewarded John the Scythian and the other
John (Kyrtos) with the rank of consul and great honours.‘ I/He sent
this message through the magister Eusebios to bishop Euphemios,
‘Your prayers, great sir, have befouled your friends.'ll" The emperor,
after gathering the resident bishops, censured Euphemios, after
which the bishops, to show their favour to the emperor, voted for his
excommunication and deposition? The emperor appointed
Makedonios as bishop of Constantinople, who was (then) sacristan
(of the same Church).° But the people rioted on account of
Euphemios and ran into the Hippodrome to perform a litany, but
were not able to achieve anything, with the emperor bent on a
wicked victory. Makedonios was wrongly persuaded by Anastasios
to put his signature to Zeno's Henotikon. 1

"Theod. Lect. 450 (127. 15-17). b Theod. Lect. 455-6 (128. 14-21).
Theophanes adds 'wicked' and ‘wrongly’.

" Kavad reigned 488-531. Cf. AM 5986, n. 2. We have retained
Theophanes' variety of spellings in the translation but will refer to him as
Kavad in the notes.

* On the date, cf. AM 5985, n. rr.

3 According to Marcell. com. year 498, they were taken alive to
Constantinople, paraded publicly, and then tortured and beheaded at
Nicaea. Evagr. iii. 35, says they provided 'an agreeable spectacle to the
Byzantines’. On displaying heads see McCormick, Eternal Victory, 56-7.

* John the Scythian was consul in 498 and John Kyrtos in 499.

> The synod probably met in spring 496 (cf. Cyr. Scyth. % sas 50). It

215

140

am 5987 Chionographia

found Euphemios guilty of Nestorianism (Mai. 460) and deposed him.
Theophanes may have brought forward the end of the Isaurian war to link it
to the deposition. If Charanis is right that the synod met in Nov. 495,
Theophanes has also put back Euphemios' deposition, but there appears to
be nothing to support his date. See Charanis, Church and State, 27.
Makedonios was appointed in July 496.

° Restored from Anastasius’ translation.

[am 5989, ad 496/7]

Anastasios, 6th year

Kabades, 2nd year

Gelasios, 5thyear

Makedonios, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 1st year
Martyrios, 2nd year

Athanasios, 7th year

Palladios, 8th year

IlIn this year Anastasios banished Euphemios to Euchaita.
Euphemios sought to have an assurance through Makedonios that
he would not be plotted against during his removal. Makedonios,
having been empowered to give this assurance, approached
Euphemios in the baptistery, ordered the archdeacon to divest him
of his pallium, and thus dressed as a private citizen went up to
Euphemios, and gave him money which he had borrowed, n° for
which he was praised by many for two reasons. For he was both
austere as well as holy, as one brought up by Gennadios whose
nephew he was. 0”

IlIn the same year Athanasios, the bishop of Alexandria, died.’ In
his place was elected John the monk, a presbyter and oikonomos,
surnamed Hemoula.ll*

2 Theod. Lect. 457 (128. 22-7). > Theod. Lect. 458 (129. 13-14).
¢ Theod. Lect. 460 (129. 26-7, restored from Theophanes); cf. KG 47 (129. 6-7) - Vict.
Tonn. a.495. 2.

17 Oct. 496.

[am 5990, ad 497/8]

Anastasios, 7th year

Kabades, 3rd year

Anastasios, bishop of Rome (2 years), 1st year’
Makedonios, and year

216

Chronographia AM5988

Martyrios, 3rd year
John, bishop of Alexandria (9 years), 1st year
Palladios, 9 th year

IlIn this year there was an invasion of the so-called tent-dwelling
Arabs into Euphratesia. Eugenios, an earnest man in both word and
deed, who commanded the army in those parts, met them at
Bithrapsa in the first region of Syria and defeated them in battle. The
vanquished [Arabs] who were tributaries of the Persians, were of the
tribe of the phylarch Naaman.” At that time Romanus was com-
mander of the army in Palestine, an excellent man. Both by good
planning and generalship, he captured in battle Ogaros,? the son of
Arethas (the latter being known as the son of Thalabane),* together
with a great mass of prisoners. Before the battle Romanus had
worsted and put to flight another tent-dweller, Gabalas by name,’
who had overrun Palestine before Romanus’ arrival. At that time
also the island of Iotabe, which lies in the gulf of the Red Sea and was
subject to the Roman emperor, paying considerable tribute, but
which in the meantime had been seized by the tent-dwelling Arabs,
was set free by Romanus after fierce battles, and given back° to the
Roman traders to inhabit under its own laws, to import goods from
the Indies and to bring the assessed tax to the emperor.II*

» Cf. Evagr. ili. 36.

" Anastasios was pope from 24 Nov. 496 to 19 Nov. 498.

* The invasion must post-date Naaman's accession as king of the
Lakhmids, which was not before 499. See Stein, sz ii. 91. I. Shahid,
Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fifth Century (Washington DC, 1989), 122,
prefers to translate Theophanes' vnoonovSoi as ‘allies.

3 His Arabic name was Hujr.

* Theophanes says 'son' precisely, but Thalabane in fact means Ta'laba,
a branch of the house of Bakr. He was in fact son of 'Ami and was king of
Kinda c.498-528. See Olinder, kings of Kinda, 48, 51-3 and. Shahid, op. cit.
120-30.

> Gabala (Jabalah) was ruler of the Ghassanid Arabs. prae ii. 489. There
are no other sources.

- avdis ie. Anastasios simply restored the position existing before
Iotabe's occupation by Amroulkais in 473. See Stein, gz ii. 91, cf. i. 357.

[am 5991, ad 498/9]

Anastasios, 8th year
Kabades, 4th year
Anastasios, 2nd year
Makedonios, 3rd year

217

141

142

AM 5991 Chronographia

Martyrios, 4th year
John, 2nd year
Palladios, 10th year

I IIn this year Makedonios, at the emperor's instigation, attempted to
unite the monasteries of the capital that had seceded because of
Zeno's Henotikon. Being unable to do this, he advised the emperor
to call together the resident bishops and to affirm in writing what
had been excellently laid down as doctrine at Chalcedon. This was
done by means of a written protocol. He urged the monasteries to
unity, in particular the monastery of Dios, that of Bassianos, the
monastery of the Sleepless Ones, and that of Matrona,-' for these
especially had separated from those that accepted Zeno's Henotikon
and eagerly submitted to banishment. Because of their resistance,
Makedonios decided to leave them to their own course of action
rather than instigate a persecution against them. The holy Matrona,
who was still alive and refused communion along with the nuns at
her monastery because of Zeno's Henotikon, demonstrated numer-
ous miracles, with Chrysaorios, a deacon of the Church, putting
pressure on her. A certain Sophia, too, who was notable among the
nuns and who had suffered greatly, showed remarkable endurance. *

lITheuderich the African” had an orthodox deacon who was much
loved by him and who converted to Arianism to please the Arian
Theuderich. Theuderich beheaded him with his sword, saying, ‘If
you could not keep your faith for God, you would not have kept it
for me.'ll®

nOn the death of Palladios, bishop of Antioch, the emperor
appointed Flavian who was presbyter and apokrisiarios of the
Church of Antioch. They say that Flavian was opposed to the doc-
trines of Chalcedon.I 1?

IIA certain Olympios, an Arian, who was washing in the baths of
Helenianai, died miserably in the pool after uttering terrible blas-
phemies. This was depicted on an image. A certain Eutychianos,
who was chief of the diaiarii, after being bribed by the Arians,
removed the picture of Olympios which had been put up. His body
wasted away terribly from that day and he died. 1“

2 Theod. Lect. 459 (129. 15-25), restored from Theophanes,- cf. KG 46 (129.
2-4 - Vict. Tonn. a.497. 1), Evagr. iii. 30. > Theod. Lect 463 (131. 16-20), Souda,
s.v. @euSepixos[@. 297). © Theod. Lect.464(i3i. 21-3), restored from Theophanes.
4 Theod. Lect. 465 (131. 24-8) cf. KG 52a (131. 10-133. 32) = John Damascene, On
Images, PG 94: 1388D-1393A, KG 52b (133. 34-7) - Vict. Tonn. a.498).

" For these monasteries see AM 5980 (Dios), 5957 (Bassianos), 5955, 5967
(the Sleepless Ones). Matrona, originally from Perge in Pamphylia (Isauria)

218

Chionogiaphia AM 5992

had built her monastery on the advice of Bassianos (she lived for some time
at his monastery disguised as a eunuch) and with the support of two rich
ladies of quality, Sphorakios' wife Antiochiane and Athanasia, in the quarter
called Severianai. We know nothing of the subsequent history of the
monastery, despite its importance at this time. See Janin, Zglises, 329.

* Both here and at AM 5993 Theophanes describes Theuderich as 4fei, an
error for which he appears to be the only source. He also appears to be the
only Greek writer to use afr to mean ‘African’ (that this is his meaning is
clear from AM 5961 and Anastasius’ translation).

3 Cf. the treatment of Flavian at AM 6001, 6002, and notes.

* Theophanes repeats almost verbatim (as usual) the account given by
Theod. Lect. as preserved in MS P. John Damascene, however, gives a very
much more detailed account (some three columns in pq which he states is
taken from Theod. Lect. (the MS actually reads Theodoret, which is chrono-
logically impossible). John Damascene was certainly capable of expanding
an original with rhetorical flourishes, but the precision of some details sug-
gests that here he was actually quoting Theod. Lect. For instance he begins
by dating the event to Christmas Day ‘in the same consulship’, an unlikely
detail to have invented since he does not bother to tell us the name of the
consul. It is known that what we have of Theod. Lect. is not merely frag-
mentary but also abbreviated. The passage from John Damascene shows
both the degree of abbreviation and also that the abbreviated version only
was available to Theophanes. Since Theophanes is so close to the abbrevi-
ated version on so many occasions, there can be no doubt that his general
custom was to copy it. But it is also very likely (though unfortunately not
provable) that where Theophanes differs in phraseology from the preserved
version of Theod. Lect., he has deliberately altered that version, especially
where the variation consists of the addition of epithets or adverbs which
colour the interpretation of Theod. Lect.; e.g. the addition of ‘impious’, 'dis-
gracefully’, etc. Where the difference is some detail of fact (as opposed to
opinion) it is impossible to determine the source, but quite possibly in these
rare cases, the extra detail may have come from a marginal gloss in the man-
uscript.

am 5992 [ad 499/5°°]

Year of the divine Incarnation 492

Anastasios, emperor of the Romans (27 years), 9th year
Kabades, emperor of the Persians (30 years), 5th year
Anastasios, bishop of Rome (g years), 3rd year
Makedonios, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 4th year
Martyrios, bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), 5 th year

John, bishop of Alexandria (9 years), 3rd year

Flavian, bishop of Antioch (13 years), 1st year

219

143

am 5991 Chronographia

IlIn this year Festus, a Roman senator, who had been sent to
Anastasios on certain public business,’ requested that the com-
memoration of the holy apostles Peter and Paul should be celebrated
with greater festivity,” a usage that has survived until now.
Makedonios, who wanted to use Festus to send his synodical letter
to Anastasios, bishop of Rome,’ was prevented by the emperor.!\*

" Theod. Lect. 461 (129. 28-130. 13). Theophanes inserts 'that has survived until
now'. Cf. KG 48 (129. 9-12).

The date is 497 (see below). Festus, the leading senator in Rome (sena-
us prior) had been sent before by Theuderich in 490 to announce
Theuderich's success against Odoacer and to ask for Theuderich to be made
regent, but Zeno died at that juncture and Anastasios refused. This time he
gained for Theuderich the right to all the imperial insignia which Odoacer
had had 20 years previously (Anon. Val. 12. 64).

* Cf. E. Topping, BMGS 2 (1976), 1-15, who notes the growth of interest
in the cult of Peter at around this time but connects this interest with
attempts at ending the Acacian schism in the reign of Justin. The festal day
is 29 June. Presumably Festus was in Constantinople on the festal day.

3 Pope Anastasios died on 19 Nov. 498. Festus’ mission probably began
after Pope Anastasios’ accession (24 Nov. 496) and he must have left
Constantinople to return shortly before Pope Anastasios’ death (cf. AM 5993).

[am 5993, ad 500/1]

Anastasios, 10th year
Kabades, 6 th year
Anastasios, 4th year
Makedonios, 5 th year
Martyrios, 6th year
John, 4th year
Flavian, and year

IlIn this year Festus, as he was going back to Rome, promised the
emperor Anastasios that he would persuade Pope Anastasios to
accept Zeno's Henotikon, but he found the pope dead on his return.
By corrupting many with money he secured the election, contrary to
Roman practice, of a certain Laurentius as bishop, who was ordained
by one faction. The more orthodox separated themselves and
ordained Symmachos, who was one of the deacons. As a result
many disorders occurred, including murders and rapine, for a period
of three years, until Theuderich the African,* who was at the time
controlling Rome, though he was an Arian, summoned a local
synod,*? confirmed Symmachos as bishop of Rome, and ordered

220

Chionogia phia AM 5993

Laurentius to be bishop of the city of Nuceria. But Laurentius did
not stay quiet and, after creating trouble, was deposed by
Symmachos and sent into banishment.* And thus the discord
ceased. I ]*

IllIn the same year Anastasios abolished the silver and gold tax?
and wild beast fights® and made the magistracies, which used to be
bought, free of charge. 7

a Theod. Lect. 461 (130. 13-21). Cf. KG 49 (130. 2-4) = Vict. Tonn. a.497. 2, KG 50
(130. 6-8). > Theod. Lect. 553 (156. 15-6) = John Diakrinomenos).

" Rival elections for a successor to Anastasios were held on 22 Nov. 498.
Laurentius, supported by Festus, was in favour of reconciliation with
Constantinople. Symmachos' supporters, described as the orthodox, were
opposed to any concessions to Constantinople over the Henotikon.

* Cf. 5991, n. 2.

3 Theuderich appears to have decided in favour of Symmachos in 4 99, but
a synod, acquitting him of various charges and confirming his election, was
held later, probably mid-502. See Bury, wire i. 465 and J. Moorhead,
Theodeiie in Italy, (Oxford, 1992), ch. 4.

‘ Probably not before 506. See Stein, sz, ii. 138-9 on the continuing dis-
cord.

> Introduced by Constantine, it had been a quinquennial sales tax on mer-
chants and craftsmen of every kind (including prostitutes). It had been
regarded as oppressive. Anastasios made up the small amount of revenue
involved from the res privat. See Jones, 1kE 110, 237. The date is May 498
(cf. chr. Edess. 74, Bury, HLRE i. 441, Stein, Be ii. 204). Stein suggests it
follows closely the defeat of the Isaurians, and was largely paid for from the
confiscation of Isaurian estates. For the law, cx: 1. 1 (undated). The aboli-
tion was popular. For instance Josh. Styl. states that at its abolition in Edessa
‘the whole city rejoiced, and they all put on white garments, both small and
great, and carried lighted tapers and censers full of burning incense, and
went forth with psalms and hymns, giving thanks to God and praising the
emperor, to the church of St Sergius and St Symeon, where they celebrated
the eucharist. They then re-entered the city, and enacted that they should
celebrate this festival every year. All the artisans were reclining and enjoy-
ing themselves, [bathing and feasting in the court of the (Great) Church and
in all the porticoes of the city]' (31, p. 22 tr. Wright, the section in square
brackets having various textual problems).

° In 499. See Josh. Styl., 34, 46. Prokopios of Gaza, Panegyric, 15, 16.
Priscian ’ Panegyric for _ Anastasios, 223-7.

7 In the standard accounts of his administrative and financial reforms,
Anastasios is peculiarly given no credit for what admittedly proved an
unsuccessful attempt to stamp out suffragia, by which many positions in
the bureaucracy could be bought. There is merely a backhanded reference by
Jones, zrE 572, that ‘as early as the reign of Anastasius posts were pur-
chased’. As Jones points out elsewhere, the practice of suffagia is first

221

144

AM 5993 Chionogiaphia

noted, with disapproval, under Constantine, while Zeno sold posts officially
to benefit the treasury, extending the practice to the second grade of the
administrative service. That Anastasios’ attempt failed is shown by the fact
that Justinian also attempted to abolish imperial suffiagia, again unsuc-
cessfully (Prok. aneca, 21. 9-19) and the practice was still prevalent under
Maurice. See Jones, LRE 393-6, 1055.

[AM 5994, AD 501/2]

Anastasios, nth year

Kabades, 7th year

Symmachos, bishop of Rome (12 years), 1st year’
Makedonios, 6th year

Martyrios, 7th year

John, 5 th year

Flavian, 3rd year

IlIn this year there was again an incursion of the Saracens in
Phoenicia, Syria, and Palestine after the death of Ogaros.* His brother
Badicharimos overran these regions like a hurricane and retreated
with the booty even more swiftly than he had invaded, so that
Romanus who pursued him could not catch up with the enemy.II*

In the same year the Bulgars,? as they are called, invaded IIlyricum
and Thrace and returned before being recognized.

° Cf. Evagr. iii. 36, but he is not close.

* Symmachos was pope from 22 Nov. 49 8 to 19 July 514*

* Cf. AM 5990. According to the more trustworthy Arab tradition, both
Ogaros and his brother Badicharimos (Arabic Ma’dikarib) outlived their
father who died in 528. See Olinder, kings of Kinda, 70-82; PLRE ii. 794.

3 More precisely Kotrigurs. Cf. AM 6171. Marcell. com. also dates the
invasion to 502 as well as recording an invasion in 499, when the Romans
lost 15,000 men, and another in 493, probably of Bulgars, who also defeated
the Romans, killing the magistei mititum Julian. See Stein, BE ii. go.

[AM 5995, AD 502/3]

Anastasios, 12th year

Kabades, 8th year

Symmachos, 2nd year

Makedonios, 7th year

Salustius, 51st bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), 1st year
John, 6th year

Flavian, 4th year

Chronographia AM5988

In this year Anastasios made a treaty’ with Arethas (known as the
son of Thalabane),* the father of Badicharimos and Ogaros after
which all Palestine, Arabia, and Phoenice enjoyed much peace and
calm.

I lIn Neocaesarea,? when an earthquake was about to occur, a sol-
dier, who was passing that way, saw two soldiers there and another
further back, who was shouting, 'Guard the house which has
Gregory's tomb’. The earthquake occurred and most of the city col-
lapsed except for the [church of] St Gregory the miracle-worker.I\*

® Theod. Lect. 555 (156. 20-4) = JohnDiakrinomenos.

For this information see also Nonnosos, ruc iv. 179 = Photios, sin 3
(grandson of Euphrasios who negotiated peace for the Romans, cf. pre ii.
425), Kedr. i. 628, Olinder, Kings of Kinda, 54-69.

* Cf. AM 5 990. This time Theophanes does not include a word for'son' but
it is implied. See now I. Shahid, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth
Century, i/i (Washington, DC, 1995), 4 ff., who suggests emending the text
to read ‘Qyapov iraTepa, {XAl_ npos A-pedav) TOV TOV &aAa/3a AeyopLevov.

3 In Pontos Polemoniakos (modern Niksar). For the date, Stein, zz ii. 193
n. 1, suggests that this is probably the same earthquake that destroyed
Armenian Nikopolis in Sept. 499.

am 5996 [ad 503/4]

Year of the divine Incarnation 496

Anastasios, emperor of the Romans (27 years), 13th year
Kabades, emperor of the Persians (30 years), gth year
Symmachos, bishop of Rome (12 years), 3rd year
Makedonios, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 8th year
Salustius, bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), 2nd year

John, bishop of Alexandria (9 years), 7th year

Flavian, bishop of Antioch (13 years), 5 th year

Illn this year Kabades, the emperor of the Persians, demanded money
from Anastasios.’ Anastasios said that if Kabades wanted a loan, he
should make a receipt in writing; if it were in any other form, he
would not pay. As a result Kabades violated the peace treaty* that
had previously been made with Theodosios the younger, and with a
large army of Persians and foreigners invadedlIl* first of all Armenia,
where he captured Theodosioupolis, which was betrayed by
Constantine, a senator who had been commander of the Illyrian
detachments.* Next he went to Mesopotamia‘ and besieged Amida,
since no worthwhile Roman army was yet stationed in that region.

223

145

AM 5991 Chronographia

Only Alypios? was there with a small force. He was praised by every-
one and was a lover of philosophy and took such care as he could
both for the defence of the cities and the supply of food. He himself
lived at Constantina, 507 stades® to the west of Nisibis and an equal
distance from Amida to the north. But some time having meanwhile
elapsed, and several engagements having taken place between the
Romans and the Persians, in which the Romans sometimes got the
worse and sometimes the better of the foreigners in different places,
Amida was finally betrayed to the Persians, after being besieged for
over three months by the barbarians.’ It was betrayed during the
night by monks who were guarding one of the towers. The enemy,
who entered the city by climbing ladders, plundered and destroyed it
all and captured considerable riches. The emperor Kouades came to
the city on an elephant on the third day after its betrayal and
removed great riches. He left Glones to guard the city while he him-
self returned to the city of Nisibis and the Persian forces remained
between Amida and Constantia.ll°

° Theod. Lect. 552 (156, 12-14); cf. Prok. BPi. 7. 1. > Cf. Evagr. iii. 37, Prok.
BP i. 7.

" Josh. Styl. 23 provides the background. See also Prok. spi. 7, Joh. Lyd.
De Mag. iii. 52, Mai. 450. Leo and Zeno had apparently paid the Persians for
the defence of the Caucasus, cf. the views of Z. Rubin in D. H. French and
C. 8: Lightfoot, eds., The Eastern Frontier of the Roman Empire, BAR 553
(Oxford, 1989), 677-95 and of R. Cc Blockley, East Roman Foreign Policy
(Leeds, 1992), 50-1, 89-90. When Kavad, who owed the Hephthalites money
over his restoration, renewed the demand in 491, Anastasios, aware of the
situation, insultingly offered it as a loan.

* Josh. Styl. dates the breaking of the truce to Aug. 502. The earlier treaty
had been made in 440 or 441.

3 Aug./Sept. 502. Constantine bore Anastasios a grudge. He was probably
A comes rei militaris, since he was not dux Armenia. But ‘senator’ implies
the high rank of vir itusris (Jones, ree i. 529 and n. 16), so he may have
been magister mititum. Se@ PLRE ti. 313-14.

* In between the capture of Theodosioupolis and Amida Kavad also took
Martyropolis.

> Alypios (Olympius 14 in pzre ii. 804; 'lwmpys in Josh. Styl.) was dux
Mesopotamiae (not Osrhoenae aS iN PLRE, See Prok. sp i 22. 3) as he lived
in Constantina and had military authority over the region.

® For the figure, cf. AM 5832.

? Josh. Styl. 50, 53, provides the most detailed description. See also Zach.
HE Vii. 3, Prok. api. 7. Evagr. iii. 37 reports a description by Eustath., who
is presumably the source of Theophanes, Prok., and Zach. Amida fell on 1
Jan. 503, so the siege probably began in Oct. 502. During the siege

224

Chronographia AM5988

Anastasios sent his ambassador Rufinus to offer Kavad money and peace,
which Kavad rejected.

[AM 5997, AD 504/5]

Anastasios, 14th year
Kabades, 10th year
Symmachos, 4th year
Makedonios, 9th year
Salustius, 3rd year
John, 8th year
Flavian, 6th year

Illn this year an army of Goths, Bessi, and other Thracian races’ was
sent out by the emperor Anastasios under the command of
Areobindos,” son of Dagalaiphos, who was magister militum per
Orientem and exarch? of it and had been consul ordinarius. His
grandfather on his father's side had been the Areobindos who had
served with distinction against the Persians in the time of
Theodosios the younger, and he was born to Dagalaiphos by
Godisthea, the daughter of Ardabourios, son of Aspar, whom we
have previously mentioned. Many other generals were sent with
Areobindos of whom the most distinguished were Patricius,
Hypatios (whose parents were Secundinus and the sister of the
emperor Anastasios), Pharismanes the father of Zounas, a Laz by
race, the aforesaid Romanus, who linked up with the army from
Euphratesia, Justin, who later became emperor, Zemarchos, and sev-
eral others. The army gathered in Edessa, a city of Osrhoene, and at
Samosata, a city of Euphratesia. The forces under Hypatios and
Patricius were engaged in freeing Amida from the Persian garrison.
Areobindos, campaigning with Romanus, the phylarch Asouades
and several others against Kouades himself, who was then staying at
Nisibis, prevailed against the Persians in various battles and drove
Kouades out of Nisibis,* forcing him to retreat many days’ journey
inside its territory. In one engagement there fell the greatest of the
Persian generals, whose sword and bracelet were brought to
Areobindos by the Scythian who had killed him, and then sent to the
emperor, a noteworthy and particularly clear token of victory. And
so with the Persian army defeated to this extent by the Roman gen-
erals, Kouades got ready and sent against the Romans a very large
army, with the result that Areobindos urged the forces with
Hypatios and Patricius to hasten to his help from the area round
Amida. When they declined out of envy,’ Areobindos wanted to

225

147

AM 5997 Chronographia

retreat and to return to Byzantium, and was only kept in those parts
by the Egyptian Appion, who was second in command of the army
and in charge of supplies and general supervision. While the gener-
als were at odds with one another, Kouades came to Nisibis and,
having learned of the discord among the generals, he himself, in a
powerful position with his large force, divided up his own army in
many places and overran almost the entire Roman territory, pushing
as far as the Syrias.° Meanwhile he sent many envoys to Areobindos
to discuss peace, saying that he would end the war on payment of
money. He then overran in particular the territory round Edessa,
where Areobindos was. However, he did not accomplish anything
successfully there but, contrary to expectations, he came off worst
in a battle with Areobindos.’ Knowing, too, that his general Glones,
with the garrison at Amida, had been destroyed following a plot®
against him, he marched back in distress along another route,
neglecting the hostages whom he had given to Areobindos during
the peace-talks. They also retained, contrary to the agreements, the
excellent Alypios and Basil of Edessa;? so that after his retreat to his
own territory (since winter had already arrived), the Roman generals
divided themselves among the various cities of Euphratesia,
Osrhoene, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Armenia, and encamped for the
winter season.I\*

I In the same year when the chariot races were held, disorder broke
out among the two factions and many people died on both sides,
including the son of the emperor Anastasios whom he had by a con-
cubine. Being extremely upset, Anastasios punished many and sent
others into banishment.I°

" Cf. Prok. BP 1.8-9. > Cf. Mai. at De insid. 39 [Mai. Trans., p. 222).

Instead of Goths, Bessi, and Thracians Prok. mentions a Gothic general
Bessas (who is well attested, see pire ii. 226-9) and Goths who had not fol-
lowed Theuderich from Thrace to Italy. This may suggest a common source,
but also emphasizes the differences which continue throughout the
account.

* This is hardly a case of appointing a Goth to command a bunch of bar-
barians. Areobindos' offices are known from ivory diptychs commemorating
his consulship of 506. He was the greatgrandson of Aspar (consul 434, cf. AM
5915, 5931, 5938, 5942-3, 5952, 5961—4), grandson of both Ardabourios (con-
sul 447), and Areobindos (consul 434), and son of Dagalaiphos (consul 461).
He married Anicia Juliana (daughter of the emperor Olybrius and an impor-
tant figure in her own right; cf. 6005, n. 8) and his son was Olybrius (consul
491, ahead of his father). This concentration of consulars and the marriage
points to the complete acceptance of this once-Gothic family by the aris-
tocracy. (Prok. only mentions that he was son-in-law of Olybrius.) The size

226

Chronographia AM5988

of the army is given as 15,000 by Marcell. com. and as 52,000 (40,000 under
Hypatios and Patricius, 12,000 under Areobindos) by Josh. Styl.

3 It is not clear to what this refers. The verb iSapxeaj appears to be a
hapaxlegomenon. Possibly Theophanes has created 'exarch' from misread-
ing his source (here reflected by Prokopios) which at this point refers to
Areobindos being the son-in-law of Olybrios, emperor in the West.

‘ 'As far as Nisibis' may seem more likely (So pre ii. 144) and Zach. we
vii. 5 mentions Areobindos' fruitless attack on Nisibis, but the genitive
should still imply ‘out of’. Even though Areobindos failed to capture Nisibis,
it looks as if ‘out of Nisibis' is accurate, since Kavad later returned to Nisibis
with a large force. Prok. does not mention Nisibis.

> It was suggested that Areobindos lost a battle, perhaps this one, because
of his fondness for dancing and music (Joh. Lyd. de mag. iii. 53), but the
same source is also hostile to Patricius and Hypatios, who are accused of
cowardice and inexperience.

° i.e. the provinces of Syria I and II. Areobindos retreated to Constantina
and Edessa. Huns and Arabs, led by Constantine, reinforced the Persians.
Hypatios and Patricius, having lifted the siege of Amida, eventually came to
aid Areobindos but were defeated and fled to Samosata.

7 Theophanes, from, the vantage-point of the gth cent., omits the
accounts in his sources of Edessa's claim to divine protection, for which see
Averil Cameron, he Sceptic and the Shroud (inaugural lecture, London,
1980); ead iN OKEANOS: HUS, 7 (1984), 80-94.

® Prok. spi. 9. 5-17, relates at some length the ruse by which Glones was
tricked.

° Basil of Edessa was later (507) comes Orientis.

am 5998 [ad 505/6]

Year of the divine Incarnation 498

Anastasios, emperor of the Romans (27 years), 15th year
Kabades, emperor of the Persians (30 years), nth year
Symmachos, bishop of Rome (12 years), 5th year
Makedonios, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 10th year
Salustius, bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), 3rd year

John, bishop of Alexandria (9 years), 9th year

Flavian, bishop of Antioch (13 years), 7th year

IllIn this year’ the magister Celar was sent out by the emperor with
a very large force’ under him and took over almost all authority
together with the general Areobindos. The emperor entrusted to
them the management of the entire war. He recalled Appion and
Hypatios with all speed to Byzantium, thinking it was not necessary
that either of them remain with the army because of their hostility
towards the general Areobindos and he appointed the general

227

149

am 5991 Chronographia

Kalliopios to be in charge of supplies.*? Accordingly Celar managed
the whole war extremely well together with Areobindos, Patricius,
Ronosos, Timostratos, Romanus, and the others in their various
regions;* for he was a man filled with God's grace as well as good
sense and learning of every kind, a brave man, a native of IIlyricum,
from where Anastasios also came. Many forts in Persian territory
were overrun* in the incursions and destroyed by fire or by other
means, so that even Nisibis itself nearly fell to the Romans. For
hunger was by then affecting the Persians, and besides they had to,
face a tribal uprising of the so-called Kadousioi and other races. In
short, the Romans prevailed over the Persians, so that Kouades sent
the general Aspetios? to discuss peace urgently with them, [instruct-
ing him,] even if he gained little or nothing in return, to hand back
Amida to the Romans who, despite their enormous effort, had not
yet been able to capture it from the Persians, even though hunger
was oppressing the garrison, because of the nature of the site and the
unbreachable walls. The generals, seeing that winter was approach-
ing again, and judging that it was preferable to redeem the Roman
army for a few talents from the harsh wintry conditions of those
places where the discussions with Aspetios took place, handed over
three talents° and got back Basil of Edessa, who was still being held
a hostage by the Persians (the excellent Alypios had died after suf-
fering an illness among them), and returned the hostages whom they
held. They won back Amida and made the covenants for the peace
on the border between the forts of Ammoudia and Marde,’ and rati-
fied them in writing. Such was the end of Anastasios’ Persian War in
the 15th year of his reign.® It had lasted for three years and had
harmed the territory of the Persians more than previous wars, reach-
ing this conclusion in the 15 th year of Anastasios’ reign. II?

11 On the death of John, bishop of Alexandria,’ John Nikaiotes was
ordained in his place.II*

IlIn the same year, on Anastasios’ order, many of the bronze works
which Constantine the Great had erected, were melted down. Out of
these Anastasios made a statue of himself which he set up on the
column of the Tauros.’° For the one of Theodosios the Great, which
had stood there earlier, had fallen and been shattered during an
earthquake. [1°

"Mai. 399. 5-12; cf. Prok. BP i. 8-9, but this is not Theophanes' source.
56 Theod. Lect. 476 (136. 13-14) restored from Theophanes, cf. KG 47 (129. 6-7) = Vict.
Tonn. a.495. © Mai. 400. 22-401. 8.

In fact, probably 5 04. Celar (properly Celer) was appointed magister off 1-
228

Chronographia AM5988

cioium late 503 (Josh. Styl., 64, Marcell. com. a.503) and held the position
to 518.

* So, too, Josh. Styl. Marcell. com. a.504, puts the reinforcements at
2,000.

3 Josh. Styl. 70, records his distribution of 850,000 modi throughout the
district for baking into bread for the troops. He also states that Apion went
to Alexandria (rather than Constantinople).

* Bonosos is not named elsewhere. Taken with 'in their various regions’,
he may have been a local «x. Timostratos, brother of the ambassador
Rufinus (see AM 6022-3), “°* currently dux Osihoena. Later, he was dux of
the Eastern front 513-18 and dux Mesopotamia, in which position he was
followed on his death in 527 by Belisarius.

> In fact not a proper name but a corruption by Greek sources of the office
‘astabedh’. Cf. AM 6013, n. 8. See Stein, az ii. 98 and n. 3, 99 n. 5. The date
was the winter of 504/5.

6 The true figure was probably considerably more than this. Zach. Myt.
gives 1,100 lbs. of gold, Prok. 1,000 lbs. Three talents is roughly equivalent
to 417 lbs.

? Amuda (the spelling varies) is 7 km. south of Dara. See Dillemann,
Mesopotamie, 81-2. Marde = modern Mardin.

* Although an armistice was agreed early in 503, the peace was not rati-
fied until Nov. 506 by a treaty. By Nov. 506 Anastasios had technically
begun his 16th year.

° 29 Apr. 505. Cf. AM 5878, 5970.

am_ 5999 [ad 506/7]

Year of the divine Incarnation 499

Anastasios, emperor of the Romans (27 years), 16th year
Kabades, emperor of the Persians (30 years), 12th year
Symmachos, bishop of Rome (12 years), 6th year
Makedonios, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), nth year
Salustius, bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), 4th year

John Nikaiotes, bishop of Alexandria (11 years), 1st year
Flavian, bishop of Antioch (13 years), 8th year

uIn this year Anastasios, free from wars, was bent on diverting the
patriarch Makedonios from the orthodox faith.I\* Many of the bish-
ops, to win Anastasios’ favour, rejected the Synod of Chalcedon: of
whom the foremost was Eleusinios of Sasima.’ Anastasios brought a
Syro-Persian Manichaean painter from Kyzikos, in the guise of a
presbyter, who dared to depict certain fantastic subjects, quite dif-
ferent from the holy images of churches, in the palace of Helenianai
and in St Stephen of Aurelianai,* on the instruction of the emperor
who applauded the Manichaeans. This led to a great uprising among

229

150

AM 5999 Chronographia

the people.I\? Then the emperor decided that the prefect should
accompany him at services and at processions of prayer, for he was
afraid of rebellions among the orthodox. This became customary
practice. 11° Anastasios brought the Manichaean-minded Xenaias,
also called Philoxenos,? to Byzantium as someone of his own per-
suasion. But Makedonios would not deem him worthy either of
communion or conversation, while the clergy, monks, and people
caused disturbances against him. So Anastasios secretly removed
him from the city.[K Makedonios ordered that a certain Acholios
who had drawn his sword against him at the instigation of his ene-
mies, was to receive monthly corn-rations, and was praised for his
moderation. He did the same to the needy who stole from the
Church. I \°

uIn the same year a man who was an alchemist made his appear-
ance in Antioch, a terrible impostor named John, who, after stealth-
ily entering the shops of the silversmiths, showed them hands and
feet of statues made of gold as well as other figures. He would say, 'I
have found treasure full of these.' He deceived and fooled many and
made off with a lot of money. He managed to flee from there and
came to Constantinople, where he also deceived many people, so
that the emperor, when he got to know aboiat this, arrested the man.
He brought to the emperor a horse's bridle of solid gold studded with
pearls. Accepting this, the emperor said to him, 'You are certainly
not tricking me’, and banished him to Petra, a fort in Asia, where he
died. IK

"Theod. Lect. 466 (134. 6-8). > Theod. Lect. 467 (134. 9-14) restored from
Theophanes. © Theod. Lect. 469 (134. 16-19). 4 Theod. Lect. 470 (134.
20-3) restored from Theophanes. e Theod. Lect. 471 (134. 24-6). Theophanes
has several variants. f Mai. 395. 6-19.

* In Cappadocia. Eleusinios was certainly corresponding with Severus
some time between 508 and 511 (Liberatus, Brev. 19, p. 133, 20).

* Both the church of St Stephen of Aurelianai (the church was built by
Aurelian, consul for 400, according to Theod. Lect.) and the palace of
Helenianai were in the Xerolophos region.

3 Cf. AM 5982 for Philoxenos. Theophanes' date here is correct; see
Charanis, Church and State, 31, against A. A. Vaschalde, Three Letters of
Philoxenos, bishop of Mabbogh (485-519) (Rome, 1902), 17, and Lebon, te
Monophysisme_severien (Louvain, 1909), 44 who date this to 509.

fam 6000, ad 507/8]

Anastasios, 17th year
Kabades, 13th year

230

Chronographia AM 6001

Symmachos, 7 th year
Makedonios, 12th year
Salustius, 5 th year

John Nikaiotes, 2nd year
Flavian, 9 th year

I lln this year the emperor Anastasios walled Daras, a large and strong
village of Mesopotamia which lies between the boundaries of the
Romans and the Persians.’ He built churches there and store-houses
for keeping grain and cisterns of water and porticoes, and named it
Anastasioupolis. He also built two public baths and gave it the priv-
ileges of a city. 1°

" Mai. 399. 13-21.

Zach. HE vii. 6 explains the fortification as Anastasios’ response to a
request from his generals who had been unsuccessful at Nisibis and Amida.
They wanted a fortified base as a supply depot close to the frontier. Dara was
preferred to Amuda, the other site that was considered suitable for this pur-
pose. See B. Croke and J. Crow, JRS 73 (1983), 143-59, M. Whitby in
P. Freeman and D. Kennedy, eds., The Defence of the Roman and Byzantine
East, BAR 297 (Oxford, 1986), 737-83.

AM 600i [AD 508/9]

Year of the divine Incarnation 501

Anastasios, emperor of the Romans (27 years), 18th year
Kabades, emperor of the Persians (30 years), 14th year
Symmachos, bishop of Rome (12 years), 8 th year
Makedonios, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 13th year
Salustius, bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), 6th year

John, bishop of Alexandria (11 years), 3rd year

Flavian, bishop of Antioch (13 years), 10th year

IIn this year the emperor Anastasios compelled Flavian, bishop of
Antioch, to subscribe to Zeno's Henotikon. After holding a synod of
the bishops under him, he wrote a lengthy letter in which he sup-
ported the synods of Nicaea, Constantinople, and Ephesos but
remained silent about that of Chalcedon.’ He renounced Diodoros
and Theodore, and subjoined four chapters wherein he appears not to
be in agreement with the Synod of Chalcedon, and, in particular,
rejects the phrase 'in two natures’. Some say that these chapters
were the work of Akakios of Constantinople. But Flavian wrote a
private letter to Anastasios supporting the latter's purpose. Likewise
there was the impious Xenaias, who reached such audacity that he

231

AM 5991 Chronographia

added to these chapters anathemas against the most holy Leo of
Rome, the synod, and those agreeing with it. Constantine, bishop of
Seleukeia, anathematized the holy Synod of Chalcedon, writing the
same as Xenaias. Flavian, to discredit them, wrote to the emperor
informing him of this. But the emperor grew angry with him and
gave preference to Constantine and Xenaias. u” Anastasios wrote to
Helias, bishop of Jerusalem,’ ordering him to pass judgement against
the Synod of Chalcedon, but Helias replied to the emperor anathe-
matizing Nestorios, Eutyches, Diodoros, and Theodore, and accept-
ing the Synod of Chalcedon.I\”

In the same year a disturbance broke out in Alexandria between
John Nikaiotes, the bishop, and Dagalaiphos, the comes, over
Gennadios Phikopteros.* The discord lasted in the city for many
days. The soldiers burned down the house of John the bishop, while
the house of Phikopteros was burned by the citizens. The
Alexandrians set up a statue of the emperor in the Antikantharos.*

Theod. Lect. 472 (135. 9-24) restored from Theophanes; cf. Syn. Vetus, 108, KG
54 (135.1-12 - Vict. Tonn. a.499), Evagr. iii. 31. > Theod. Lect. 473 (135. 25-9).

" Probably c.5 10. Flavian had earlier been denounced by Philoxenos as a
Nestorian for breaking communion with John of Alexandria when the latter
rejected Chalcedon. Flavian, from the pro-Chalcedonian monastery of
Tilmognon in Syria, here seems to have surprised even his Monophysite
opponent Philoxenos. See Frend, Monophysite Movement, 217.

* Anastasios seems to have relied on Severus to help him decide this
issue. It was Severus who denounced Leo's Tome and Chalcedon. See Frend,
Monophysite Movement, 217.

3 Note the lack of agreement with the rubric. Helias was bishop from 494
to 516.

4 This is the only reference to the incident. Dagalaiphos is presumably
the comes Aegypti and a relative of the consul of 506 (perhaps his son) and
the father of Areobindos (AM 6026).

> Otherwise unknown, but cf. the so-called Kantharos at AM 5933.

fam 6002, ad 509/10]

Anastasios, 19 thyear
Kabades, 15 th year
Symmachos, 9th year
Makedonios, 14th year
Salustius, 7th year
John, 4th year

Flavian, nth year

23.2

Chronographia AM 6002

IlIn this year 200 heretical monks came to Byzantium from the East
together with the impious Severus and were active in opposing
Makedonios and the synod.’ Anastasios received them with honour
for being enemies of the truth who had caused trouble in the East
and were now doing the same here.ll* John, bishop of Alexandria,
promised to give the emperor 2,000 pounds of gold if he repudiated
finally the Synod of Chalcedon. The emperor tried to force
Makedonios to take communion with the legates of John and to
accept John, but he would not accept him nor would he reject the
synod. Makedonios opposed this, saying he would not be in com-
munion with them unless they accepted the Synod of Chalcedon as
their mother and teacher.I\

llDeuterios, bishop of the Arians in Byzantium, while baptizing
someone called Barbas, dared to say, contrary to the Lord's teaching,
‘Barbas is baptized in the name of the Father, through the Son, in the
Holy Ghost.' The font immediately dried up. Barbas, who was terri-
fied, fled and told everyone about the miracle.I I*

uThe emperor put pressure on Makedonios, bishop of Constan-
tinople, to anathematize the Synod of Chalcedon as Helias of
Jerusalem had done.* But Makedonios said that without an ecumeni-
cal synod under the presidency of the bishop of Rome it was impos-
sible to do this. As a result, the emperor, out of hostility to him,
ordered that those who sought refuge in the Church be dragged away
by force, while providing rights of asylum to the churches of
heretics. 1" All the heretics, both clergy and lay, who happened to be
in Byzantium frequented Severus and the heretical eastern monks in
their striving against Makedonios.II° But the God-inspired monks of
Palestine, moved by a divine zeal, came to Byzantium to oppose
Severus and the monks on his side. Dorotheos, an Alexandrian
monk, wrote a very lengthy work in support of the Synod of
Chalcedon, which he gave to Magna, the sister-in-law of Anastasios
through his brother, who was herself orthodox. She offered the book
to Anastasios, hoping that he would change his mind because of it.
But when he had read it and found it was contrary to his own view,
he banished Dorotheos to Oasis and condemned the book because of
the inscription, 'A tragedy, that is a prophecy of the present state’; the
same words, it is said, were used by Basil the Great against Julian. ut
Makedonios anathematized Flavian of Antioch? and all those who
dared say anything against the synod, and he also anathematized and
expelled Flavian's legates who had come to him on some business. I Is

" Theod. Lect. 478 (136. 11-4) Theophanes adds ‘enemies of truth’.
> Theod. Lect. 477 (136. 15-20). ¢ Theod. Lect. 475 (136. 8-12); cf. KG s5 (136.

233

153

154

AM 5987 Chionographia

2-7]-Vict. Tonn. a.500. « Theod. Lect. 473-4 (135. 25-34). ® Theod.
Lect. 478 (136. 25-7). f Theod. Lect. 480-1 (137. 3-15). * Theod. Lect.
479 (136- 28-137. 4

* Severus was in Constantinople from 508 to 511. Cf. Zach. v. sev, Po
2/1: 103-8.

* Contrast 6001b and 6004d, where Theophanes correctly refers to
Helias' refusal to anathematize Chalcedon, as against 6003<a.

3 Flavian in fact appears to have remained a supporter of Chalcedon. He
was deposed by the pro-Monophysite Council of Laodikeia in 512 and exiled
to Petra. Cf AM 6004c. See Frend, Monophysite Movement, 219.

[am 6003, ad 510/11]

Anastasios, 20th year
Kabades, 16 th year
Symmachos, iothyear
Makedonios, 15th year
Salustius, 8th year
John, 5 th year

Flavian, 12th year

Illn this year Anastasios decreed that a synod be proclaimed at
Sidon.’ For Soterichos, the bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, while
being ordained by Makedonios, confessed in writing that he
accepted the tenets of the Synod of Chalcedon as the definition of
the faith. But later he became so very hostile that he departed to the
East and held joint counsel with the impious Xenaias, and both
requested the emperor to hold a synod at Sidon with a view to the
final rejection of the holy Synod of Chalcedon. The synod met and
was quickly dismissed, with the emperor sending the tribune
Eutropios for this purpose, who, after dismissing it, arranged for
Flavian of Antioch and Helias of Jerusalem together with their bish-
ops to write to the emperor what was pleasing to him. Flavian wrote
that he accepted the three synods only plus the Henotikon of Zeno,
but made no mention of the Synod of Chalcedon. Helias of Jerusalem
wrote that he also rejected Chalcedon. But Soterichos of Caesarea
and Xenaias denounced Flavian and Helias to the emperor to the
effect that they had not met with one another through their unwill-
ingness to deny in clear terms the Synod of Chalcedon. In his anger,
Anastasios instigated some spurious monks to gather in Antioch and
to stir up discord against Flavian by requesting him to anathematize
the Synod of Chalcedon, as well as Diodoros, Theodore, Ibas, and

234

Chronographia AM 5988

Theodoret. Through lack of fortitude Flavian did this and in church
he anathematized them along with the synod. II”

IlIn the same year the emperor also plotted against Makedonios.
The schismatics, supported by a hired throng, in singing the
Trishagion on a Sunday in the church of the Archangel in the palace
and in the Great Church, added the phrase 'Who wast crucified for
us',? so that the orthodox were forced to drive them out with blows.
The emperor, through the agency of the schismatic monks and cler-
ics and of Julian (formerly bishop of Caria and subsequently of
Halikarnassos) and the impious Severus, who was still a monk,
openly attacked Makedonios, hurling disgraceful insults at him in
public. But the masses, including women and children and the
abbots of the orthodox monks, gathered and chanted, ‘Now is the
time for martyrdom, Christians: let us not desert our father!’, and
they abused the emperor for being a Manichee and unworthy of
power. He, in fear, locked the gates of the palace and prepared ships
for flight. And having sworn that he would never see Makedonios
again, he now invited him into his presence out of fear of the masses.
As Makedonios was making his way to the emperor, the people
called solemnly to the abbots and the monks, saying "We have our
father from you.’ Even the men of the scholae acclaimed him as he
passed through. On coming before Anastasios, he charged him with
being an enemy of the Church. Anastasios pretended for the time
being to be at one with Makedonios. I1°4

" Theod. Lect. 497 (141. 13-34), restored from Theophanes; cf. Syn. Vetus, 112, Cyr.
Scyth. V. Sab. 50 (141. 16-23). > Theod. Lect. 483-6 (137. 23-138. 20).

* Autumn 511. In fact this gave an opportunity to Flavian both to take
advantage of his current support against the Monophysites and also to
strengthen support for the Henotikon. All eastern bishops were invited but
Philoxenos refused until he was forced by a military escort. Marcell. com.
a.512, says the synod was attended by 80 bishops, but he may have confused
Sidon with Laodikeia. Flavian got his way completely to the discomfiture of
Philoxenos and Severus. Defeated at Sidon, the Monophysites appealed to
the emperor, who perhaps used Eutropios to extract the statements that he
wanted. See Charanis, Church and State, 44-5.

> Cf. AM 6o004c. 3 Cf. AM 5956, n. 5, 5967, and 5982.

4 The events of this paragraph and those of AM 6004 probably took place
in the same year.

[am 6004, ad 511/12]

Anastasios, 21st year
Kabades, 17th year

235

155

am 6004 Chronographia

Symmachos, nthyear

Makedonios, 16th year

Helias, 52nd bishop of Jerusalem (23 years), 1st year
John, 6thyear

Flavian, 13thyear

IlIn this year the emperor deceived Makedonios through the agency
of the magister Celar, having sent him a memorandum’ in which he
agreed to accept the first and second synods, but omitted Ephesos
and Chalcedon.’ This brought much censure on Makedonios. It was
for this reason that he accepted Zeno's Henotikon to which he had
subscribed at the time of his ordination.* Makedonios then went to
the monastery of Dalmatos,t where he defended himself in an
address to the zealous monks and clergy, who were shocked at his
actions, stating that he accepted the Synod at Chalcedon and held
those who did not accept it as heretics. They then celebrated the
liturgy with him. The emperor bribed the monks and clergy who
shared his beliefs to elect another bishop, which greatly saddened
both Areadne and the members of the Senate. For Makedonios was
loved both for the purity of his life and the correctness of his doc-
trines, even if he had been deceived. The emperor then arranged for
two worthless fellows to accuse Makedonios of being a pederast and
a heretic and to hand these accusations in writing to the prefect and
to the magister,* and to make similar charges against orthodox pres-
byters and deacons. He then ordered the magister Celar to remove
Makedonios from the bishop's palace by force,° while Makedonios
shouted out that he was ready to defend himself not only in the
Praetorium but even in the theatre. Many of the clergy were thrown
into prison. Others, who were able to escape, dispersed to Rome and
Phoenicia. The impious emperor through the agency of the magister
was eager to obtain the original document of the proceedings at
Chalcedon’ from Makedonios so that it could be destroyed.
Makedonios sealed the document and placed it in the sanctuary. But
the eunuch Kalopodios* who was an oikonomos of the Great
Church, stole it and took it to the emperor. Then, one night the
emperor took Makedonios away by force to Chalcedon and ordered
that from there he be banished to Euchaita, not daring to examine
any of the charges against him for fear of the people. On the follow-
ing day’ he appointed as bishop a certain Timothy, presbyter and
sacristan of the church, also called Dirty Glutton and Stallion”
because of some activities that fit these names. He, on entering the
churches, took down the images of Makedonios before holding the
service. He inscribed John Nikaiotes, bishop of Alexandria, in the

2,36

Chronographia AM 6004

diptychs and sent a synodical letter to him. Anastasios, when he
realized that he had banished Makedonios without deposition or
trial, sent a magistrianus, who stopped him beyond Claudiopolis in
Honorias." The same men, acting as judges, witnesses, and
accusers, then deposed Makedonios in his absence, when he had
already been driven out before the judgement, and sent the notice of
deposition through some bishops and a presbyter of Kyzikos. When
Makedonios saw them, before they could say anything, he asked
them if they accepted the Synod of Chalcedon. When they asked,
‘What is the point of that?’ he replied ‘If Sabbatiansll* or
Makedonians were to bring me my deposition, I would have to
accept it.’ So they returned with their mission unaccomplished,
while Makedonios went to Euchaita.ll*

uThen the law-breaking emperor attempted to expel Flavian”™
from the bishopric of Antioch and to replace him with Severus, the
declared enemy of truth. His accusers charged him for anathematiz-
ing the synod with his mouth only and not with his heart. Then the
officials, sent by the emperor to expel him, advised him to withdraw
for a while because of the tumult. As soon as he departed to
Platanoi,* they immediately ordained the impious Severus,* who
had lain in wait at the monastery of the Schismatics near Maiouma
of Gaza. They banished Flavian to Petrai as well as many other bish-
ops, who were bound in irons, and clergy and monks. I I

liHelias of Jerusalem, compelled by the emperor either to enter into
communion with Severus or be expelled from his bishopric, with the
monks fortifying him, chose to be deposed from his bishopric.” John,
former custodian of the Cross, was ordained and agreed to do what-
ever they wanted, but after his ordination did nothing further. 11°

"Theod. Lect. 487-93, 495-6 (138. 21-141. 10). » Theod. Lect. 496 (141.
11-12), restored from Theophanes, cf. Nik. Kali. xvi. 26, 168B. ¢ Theod. Lect.
498 (142. 15-22), restored from Theophanes. 4 Theod. Lect. 5r7 (149. 11-19);

cf. KG 72 (149. 2-6) - Vict. Tonn. a.509, Cyr. Scyth. V. Sab. 56 (149. 27-150. 16) (r
Sept. 516).

* Theophanes no doubt means that Makedonios sent the memorandum
but the participle grammatically agrees with 'the emperor’. On Celar, cf. AM
5998.

* 20 July 511. Cf. Schwartz, PS 243, Evagr. iii. 31 (letter from monks). The
version in Theophanes and Theod. Lect. is no more than support for the
Henotikon. Evagr. and the Monophysite sources state that Makedonios pub-
licly condemned Chalcedon.

3 Cf. AM 5988.

4 The oldest monastery of Constantinople, situated near Xerolophos and
Aurelianai.

2-37

157

am = 5991 Chronographia

> Theod. Lect. has praetorian prefect, magiste, and City prefect. A
detailed account of the events from 25 July to 7 Aug. is given in a letter by
the Monophysite Symeon, preserved in Zach. we vii. 8 (tr. Hamilton and
Brooks, 176-7, and summarized by Charanis, church and State, 41-2).

® 7 Aug. 511. Makedonios was accused of falsifying scripture. For the
details, see Frend, Monophysite | Movement, 218.

7 Cf. Marcell. com., year 511, and more correctly Zach. we vii. 7-8.
E. Schwartz, ps 244, says it was a florilegium containing Diodoros,
Theodore, and the five books of Theodoret against Cyril and Ephesos I. A dif-
ferent version is given by car. Edess. 83 (p. 9), and Mich. Syr. ii. 160-1,
namely that the records were hidden in Euphemia the Martyr's coffin, from
which the emperor stole the records and had them burned. See Charanis,
Church and State, 40-1 Nn. 28.

® Probably the Kalopodios after whom one of serinia o f Hagia Sophia was
named; cyi. 2. 24.

° Perhaps not until Oct.; cf. Grumel, 435. The Monophysites were hop-
ing and expecting that Severus would be appointed. Timothy's theological
position appears to have been very close to that of Makedonios.

'° The meaning of AirpoovX-qv (var. XiTpofiovXfi-qv, x‘ pofiov\f}rjv) is
uncertain.

"Contrast the reason given above that the emperor did not dare hold the
trial in Constantinople.

* Contrast the account of Flavian's lapse at AM 6002.

% 'Platanon' in Prok. 4ed v. 5. 1 (modern Beilan), a suburb north of
Antioch.

4 6 Nov. (elected), 8 Nov. (consecrated patriarch), see Frend,
Monophysite Movement, 219.

® Not till 1 Sept. 516. He died on 20 July 518. Anastasios ordered
Olympios, the governor of Palestine, to force Helias to recognize Severus or
to expel him.

am 6005 [ad 512/13]

Year of the divine Incarnation 505

Anastasios, emperor of the Romans (27 years), 22nd year
Kabades, emperor of the Persians (30 years), 18th year
Symmachos, bishop of Rome (12 years), 12th year
Timothy, bishop of Constantinople (6 years), 1st year
Helias, bishop of Jerusalem (23 years), 2nd year

John, bishop of Alexandria (11 years), 7th year

Severus, bishop of Antioch (7 years), 1st year

In this year’ Vitalian, son of Patriciolus who was comes foederato-
rum was invited by the orthodox* in Scythia, Mysia,*? and other
lands to rise up against the impious Anastasios. Having risen in

238

Chronographia AM 5988

revolt, he destroyed thousands upon thousands of soldiers fighting
for Anastasios, and captured a vast amount of gold sent to them for
their wages* and also battle weapons, provisions, and other such
things. It is said that in a single battle he hurled down 65,000° of the
imperial army, including their general Hypatios (the son of
Anastasios’ sister and the patrician Secundinus), whom he captured
alive and held in prison. I\*

nu Anastasios, the law-breaking emperor, and Timothy, the impi-
ous bishop of Constantinople, performed many evil acts against the
monks, clergy, and laity who supported Makedonios and the synod,
so that many were banished to Oasis in the Thebaid.’” They sent
Timothy's synodical letter and Makedonios' notice of deposition to
the bishops in each city to sign. Of these the braver resisted both, but
those of unstable character subscribed to both out of fear of the
emperor. Those in the middle did not subscribe to Makedonios'
deposition but only to Timothy's synodical letter, which was the
same thing although they claimed there was a difference. n” When
Timothy wanted to inscribe the name of Severus in the diptychs and
to remove that of Flavian he was prevented by the people. For all the
orthodox avoided communion with Severus, especially the monks,
against whom this sacrilegious man exacted vengeance with the aid
of a crowd of peasants, killing many, overturning the altars, and
melting down the sacred vessels of the orthodox.II The most noble
Juliana,® who founded the sacred church of the Mother of God at
Honoratoi, was so firm in her support of the Synod of Chalcedon that
even the emperor, who devised many traps for her, was unable to
persuade her to be in communion with Timothy. And though
Timothy himself often visited her, he was unable to persuade her. By
means of many difficulties the emperor humiliated his own nephew
Pompeius and the latter's wife,’ a lady of decorum who devoted her-
self to good works, because of their championing the synod and
because they provided Makedonios with the necessities of life in
exile. The delegates sent by Timothy to John Nikaiotes in
Alexandria anathematized the holy Synod of Chalcedon from the
ambo.lK’® When the abbot of the monastery of Dios died, Timothy
came to appoint the new abbot. But the one who was about to be
appointed said that he would not accept benediction from a man
who rejected the Synod of Chalcedon. Timothy said, 'Anathema to
anyone who does not accept the Synod of Chalcedon.’ And so the
abbot consented to being appointed by him. But Timothy's archdea-
con, John, being a Manichee, insulted Timothy and _ reported
the matter to the emperor. When the emperor had grievously
abused Timothy to his face, the latter denied it and once more began

239

159

AM 5991 Chronographia

anathematizing those who accepted the Synod of Chalcedon.II* The
impious John of Alexandria prevented Egyptians from travelling to
Jerusalem so that they would not take communion with [those who
supported] the Synod of Chalcedon at the exaltation of the Cross. At
that time some frightening things were done by demoniacs in
Jerusalem.”

IIA certain Anastasios, who wanted to be made dux of Palestine
made the following promise to the emperor, ‘If I cannot persuade
John, who succeeded Helias as bishop of Jerusalem, to be in com-
munion with Severus, I shall give you 300 pounds of gold.' He was
given the appointment and went to Jerusalem and when John was
not persuaded, he put him in prison. A certain Zacharias, a pious
man who was a magistrate in Palestine, moved by holy zeal, sug-
gested to the bishop that he promise the dux that he would do what
the latter wanted provided he was restored to his throne. After the
dux had set him free and restored him, John assembled the monks in
the church of St Stephen, mounted the pulpit, and anathematized
Nestorios, Eutyches, Severus, and Soterichos of Caesarea, and pro-
claimed the four holy ecumenical synods.’* Among those present
was Hypatios, the emperor's nephew, who was not at all in commu-
nion with Severus. And having on that occasion taken communion
with John, he gave one hundred pounds of gold to the holy
Theodosios,* who was exarch of the monasteries, for distribution
among the monks who were active in supporting the true faith and
the Synod of Chalcedon. un‘

uThe emperor ordered that some magistrates should declare the
addition to the Trishagion from the pulpit of the church of St
Theodore of Sphorakios.” As a result the crowds came out in anger
on the day of the litany that is celebrated at the Triconch in com-
memoration of [the fall of] dust."° Next Timothy ordained through a
written memorandum to all the churches of the city that the
Trishagion be recited during litanies with the addition. Many did
this out of fear. But the monks came and sang another psalm. On see-
ing them the crowd chanted "Welcome, the orthodox!’ A great dis-
turbance took place, many houses were burned, and there were
thousands of murders, while the crowd jeered Anastasios and called
for another emperor and everyone acclaimed Vitalian’” as emperor.
As a result Anastasios fled and hid in a suburban estate near
Blachernai and was abused by Areadne herself for having caused
many evils to Christians. n«

un When Alamoundaros, phylarch of the Saracens, had been bap-
tized, the impious Severus sent two bishops to win him over to his
leprous heresy,-* but, by the providence of God, the man had been

240

Chronographia AM 5988

baptized by the orthodox who accepted the synod. When Severus’
bishops attempted to pervert the phylarch from the true teaching,
Alamoundaros refuted them wonderfully with the following the-
atrical act. For he said to them. 'I received a letter today telling me
that the archangel Michael was dead.' When they replied that this
was impossible, the phylarch continued, 'How is it then according to
you that God alone was crucified, unless Christ was of two natures,
if even an angel cannot die?’ And so Severus’ bishops departed in
ignominy. 1

11Kabades hamstrung some of the Christians in Persia who later
were still able to walk. n'

Theod. Lect. 503 (143. 24-30), restored from Theoph., cf. KG 63-4 (143. 2-5, 7-10)
= Vict. Tonn. a.510-11. > Theod. Lect. 500 (142. 28-143. 15), restored from
Theoph. ¢ Theod. Lect. 502 (143. 20-3), restored from Theoph.
4 Theod. Lect. 504-6 (144. 5-13), restored from Theoph. © Theod. Lect. 507
(144. 14-23). * Theod. Lect. 518 (149. 20-31), restored from Theoph.; cf. Cyr.
Scyth. V. Sab. 56 (150. 16-152. 12), Nik. Kail. xvi. 34. « Theod. Lect. 508 (144.
24-145. 19), restored from Theophanes, cf. KG 65 (144. 2-145. 7) = Vict. Tonn. a.513.
h Theod. Lect. 513 (147. 16-25), Theoph. adds 'impious' and has 'leprous' for ‘evil’.
1 Theod. Lect. 560 (157. 17-18) = JohnDiakrinomenos.

Theophanes' date may be right, although the usual date given for the
revolt is 514, following Marcell. com. E. W. Brooks [CMH i. 485) points out
that Hypatios' challenge to Vitalian was already known in Antioch by Nov.
5r3. The best source for the revolt is Joh. Ant., frg. 2ige. Although there is
no direct testimony, Hansen is right to make Theod. Lect. the source for
Theophanes here because of the material in Vict. Tonn. Theophanes' con-
tinuation of the revolt at AM 6006 appears to be relying on Mai. Since Mal.'s
account is also confused, it is hardly surprising that Theophanes' account is
somewhat muddled. See the notes on AM 6006.

So also Mich. Syr. ii. 164, who adds that Vitalian was the patriarch
Makedonios' nephew.

3 i.e. Moesia.

4 Joh. Ant. makes Anastasios’ refusal of the supplies owed to the federate
troops the main reason for the revolt.

> Joh. Ant. says the number was more than 60,000 out of a force of 80,000.
This sentence should come in the middle of the first sentence of AM 6006.
See the notes there. Possibly Theophanes has been confused by the two dif-
ferent Hypatioi. Cf. n. 6.

° Theophanes has probably misunderstood his sources and has confused
Hypatios, the magister militum per Thracias, who first challenged Vitalian
but quickly retreated to Constantinople, and the emperor's nephew
Hypatios, who was later captured by Vitalian. The clue is the reference to
Cyril at AM 6006, who replaced the first Hypatios and was replaced by the
second. Cf. AM 6006, n. 2 and A. D. E. Cameron, GRBS 15 (1974), 313-16.

? Cf. AM 6011 for their restoration by Justin. See R. Devreesse, Le

241

160

AM 5991 Chronographia

Patriarcat d'Antioche (Paris, 1945), 170, 182-3 f°" bishops. Possibly this
occasion provides the background (such as it is) for various other banish-
ments for which we do not know the circumstances, e.g. Apion (exiled 510),
Philoxenos and Diogenianos. See Mai. 411. 6-8.

® Anicia Juliana, daughter of Olybrius, wife of Areobindos Dagalaiphos
(cf. AM 5997, n. 2). She bore the title of patrician in her own right. For her
considerable church-building and restoration, see espAnth. Gr i. 10. 12-17.

° Anastasia. In 511/12 she and Anicia Juliana often met St Sabas, who
had come to Byzantium to support Chalcedon. Both wrote to Pope
Hormisdas about the Acacian schism.

*° According to Severus, Timothy refused to anathematize Chalcedon, so
John of Alexandria refused to accept his synodical letter. Anastasios sup-
ported Timothy and upbraided John. See Charanis, church and State, 43.

" The first use by Theophanes of his Alexandrian source for some time.
It is noteworthy for its connection here with Jerusalem.

Consularis Palestinae Primae (see PLRE il, 1194, on basis of Vv. Sab.
56), possibly identical with the Zacharias who became comes Orientis in
527 (Mai. 424).

° The date must be after 1 Sept. 516 (the date of John's appointment)
since Olympios, whom Anastasios replaced as dux Palestinae was then still
in office. Anastasios now retired in alarm to Caesarea (v. sab. 56).

“4 And another hundred for Sabas jv. sab. 56).

° There are accounts of the order and the ensuing riots in a number of
sources, especially Marcell. com., Mai. 407-8, Evagr. iii. 44, Chron. Pasch.
610. The edict was first read in Hagia Sophia on Sunday 4 Nov. by the pre-
fect Marinus, probably next at St Theodore's on Monday and again at the
Commemoration of the Dust which would have been Tuesday 6 Nov. These
were the most serious riots against Anastasios and only ended with his
going to the Hippodrome on 8 Nov. 512 and offering to abdicate.

‘7 Mai. 407, states with supporting detail that it was Anicia Juliana’s hus-
band, Areobindos, who was acclaimed. He prudently fled across the
Bosporus. Theophanes has presumably substituted Vitalian as his champion
of orthodoxy.

8 If this story is not pure invention (but cf. prez ii. 42-3 for support), Al-
Mundhir, king of the Lakhmids, 505-54, a loyal ally of the Persians, must
have rapidly reverted to his ancestral religion to judge from his use of human
sacrifices.

am 6006 [ad 513/14]

Year of the divine Incarnation 506

Anastasios, emperor of the Romans (27 years), 23rd year
Kabades, emperor of the Persians (30 years), 19th year
Hormisdas, bishop of Rome (10 years), 1st year’
Timothy, bishop of Constantinople (6 years), 2nd year

242

Chronographia AM 6006

Helias, bishop of Jerusalem (23 years), 3rd year
John, bishop of Alexandria (11 years), 8th year
Severus, bishop of Antioch (7 years), 2nd year

IlIn this year Vitalian, after occupying all of Thrace, Scythia, and
Mysia and having with him a host of Huns and Bulgars, captured
Anchialos and Odyssopolis, apprehended Cyril, the magister mili-
tum per Thracias, and came plundering as far as Byzantium.” But he
spared the city? and encamped at Sosthenionll** In despair,
Anastasios sent some members of the Senate inviting him to make
peace and swore, along with the Senate, that the exiled bishops
would be recalled** at Herakleia in Thrace. Vitalian added that the
commanders of each unit of the scholae should also swear this, and
that Makedonios and Flavian, who had been unjustly expelled,
should get back their thrones, and likewise all the other bishops, and
that then the synod be held so that, with the bishop of Rome and all
the other bishops attending, the outrages against the orthodox
would be subjected to a common judgement. When the emperor, the
Senate, the other magistrates, and the army had sworn and guaran-
teed that this would happen, peace was established. And he returned
home. The patrician Secundinus, who was the brother-in-law of
Anastasios by his sister and the father of Hypatios, fell weeping at
Vitalian's feet and secured the live release of his son Hypatios® from
imprisonment in Mysia. Hormisdas, the bishop of Rome, prodded by
Theuderich, who was acting to please Vitalian, sent the bishop
Ennodius and the archdeacon Vitalian to the synod that was being
convened at Herakleia.’? About 200 bishops came from various
places,- but, deceived by the law-breaking emperor and by Timothy,
bishop of Constantinople, they left without accomplishing any-
thing. For the impious emperor, contravening the agreements,
secretly instructed the Pope of Rome not to attend, although he had
sent a rescript to Vitalian who was to forward it to Rome calling on
the pope to be present at the synod convened at Herakleia. All the
people and the Senate reviled Anastasios openly as a perjurer. But
that lawless man shamelessly stated that there was a law com-
manding the emperor to commit perjury and to lie when necessary.
Such were the acts of this utterly lawless follower of Manes.I\?

2 Mai. 402. 3-403. 5 (more detailed than Theoph.). Cf. KG 66 (145. 9-12) = Vict.
Tonn. a.514. > Theod. Lect. 509-n (143. 20-146. 24), restored from Theoph.;
cf. KG 66 (145. 9-12) - Vict. Tonn. a.514, KG 67 (146. 2-6), Syn. Vetus, 112.

" Hormisdas was pope from 20 July 514 to 6 Aug. 523.
* Theophanes has used Mai. for this and the next sentence, and so has
presumably also read him while composing the account at AM 6005. Cf. V.

243

161

AM 5991 Chronographia

Besevliev, Bvl,avriva 10 (1980), 339-46. Mai. records Vitalian's advance as
far as Odessos and Anchialos. He continues with a reference to Hypatios'
unsuccessful campaign and dismissal from the post of magister militum for
Thrace. Theophanes has transferred this to AM 6005. Since Mai. also refers
to the ransoming of Hypatios, Theophanes has understandably identified
Hypatios as Anastasios’ nephew at AM 6005, though delaying his own
account of the ransoming to this year (AM 6006) to fit in with Theod. Lect.'s
narrative. In fact two Hypatioi are involved. Vitalian, after defeating the
first, pursued him to Constantinople and entered the Hebdomon and only
returned to Lower Moesia after Anastasios had promised to right the wrongs
suffered by Vitalian's troops (cf. AM 6005, n. 4). Cyril was then sent as a
replacement for Hypatios, but was captured and killed. It was only then that
the emperor's nephew Hypatios was appointed with a force of 80,000 against
Vitalian. For the defeat of this force, see AM 6005. Hypatios was captured
(despite trying to hide in the sea among the seagulls, being recognized by his
head, as Joh. Ant. reports) and held to ransom. Vitalian then made his sec-
ond attack on Constantinople, this time by sea, supported by 200 ships, and
came to Sosthenion.

3 This refers to Vitalian's first campaign.

4 i.e. in the second campaign. Sosthenion (Stenia, modern Istinye) is
approx. 1 km. north of Constantinople on the European side of the Bosporus.

> De Boor fills the lacuna with ‘and an ecumenical synod be called
together’.

® Stein, BE ii. 181 n. 1, argues that the ransom for Hypatios amounted to
2,000 lbs. of gold out of a total of 5,000 Ibs. given to Vitalian to persuade him
to retreat.

” Syn. Vetus, perhaps reflecting Theod. Lect. (so Hansen, 146), states that
the delegates went to Constantinople. E. Schwartz, PS 252, argued that it
opened at Herakleia, was transferred to Constantinople, and was dissolved
before the end of 515; Stein, BE ii. i8r, believes it never met. Anastasios’ let-
ter to Hormisdas of 28 Dec. 514 summoned the synod to meet at Herakleia
under the presidency of the pope on 1 July 515 {Coll. Avell. 109). The dele-
gation did not leave Rome till August /Coll. Avell. 115).

[am 6007, ad 514/15]

Anastasios, 24th year
Kabades, 20th year
Hormisdas, 2nd year
Timothy, 3rd year
Helias, 4th year
John, 9thyear
Severus, 3rd year

I Iln this year Vitalian, angered by Anastasios’ perjury, inflicted much
damage on the forces under Anastasios and on the rest of the com-

244

Chionogiaphia AM 5992

monwealth, killing, plundering, and disarming peopled K’ As a final
insult, he sold each soldier for a single follis.

" Cf. Mai. 402. 11-403. 1.

* This either reflects Vitalian's third attack on Constantinople which
resulted in a naval battle in which Vitalian was defeated but escaped, or is a
misplaced account of the second attack and the ransom of 5,000 lbs. of gold
(see AM 6006, n. 6). The fact that the Monophysites considered Vitalian's
defeat glorious (Severus wrote a hymn On Vitalian the tyrant and on the
victory of the Christ-loving Anastasios the king) may explain Theophanes'
omission. Cf. AM 6012, where Theophanes is careful not to attribute the
murder of Vitalian to the equally orthodox Justin, but rather (at AM 6011)
stresses the reconciliation of these two champions of orthodoxy as the first
item after Justin's elevation.

AM 6008 [AD 515/16]

Year of the divine Incarnation 508

Anastasios, emperor of the Romans (27 years), 25th year
Kahades, emperor of the Persians (30 years), 21st year
Hormisdas, bishop of Rome (10 years), 3rd year
Timothy, bishop of Constantinople (6 years), 4th year
Helias, bishop of Jerusalem (23 years), 5 th year

John, bishop of Alexandria (11 years), 10th year

Severus, bishop of Antioch (7 years), 4th year

uIn this year the Huns known as Saber passed through the Caspian
Gates and overran Armenia, plundering Cappadocia, Galatia, and
Pontos, so that they almost reached Euchaita. The holy Makedonios,
being in danger, fled from there and reached safety near Gangra.
When Anastasios learned of this, he ordered that he be held under
the same severe conditions there and allegedly sent someone to kill
him.’ After his death at Gangra, he was buried in the shrine of the
holy martyr Kallinikos, close to the saint's relics, where he per-
formed many acts of healing.II* It is said that Makedonios as he lay
dead, made the sign of the Cross with his hand. Among his compan-
ions was a certain Theodore, who saw Makedonios in a dream say-
ing to him 'Take this down.” Go and read it out to Anastasios and
say, "I am going to my fathers, whose faith I have preserved. But I
shall not cease importuning the Lord until you have arrived, and we
go to be judged together.” '

IlIn the same year a great many men, women, and children in
Alexandria were seriously afflicted by demons and started howling.

245

162

am5987 Chionographia

Someone saw a terrible spectre in his dreams which said they were
suffering these ills because of the anathemas [pronounced] against
the synod. n°

II Also in the same year the empress Areadne died.

The monks of the desert, moved by divine zeal, composed four
solemn declarations of which they sent two to the emperor, one to
the authorities of the region, and one to John, bishop of Jerusalem.
They declared that they would neither transgress the holy synod of
Chalcedon, nor enter into communion with the impious Severus
since they were ready to die and even to set fire to the holy places. 1

u When, out of fear of the emperor, the bishop of Thessalonica
made communion with Timothy, bishop of Constantinople, forty
bishops of Illyricum and Greece gathered together and in a written
declaration seceded from him, their metropolitan, and sent a letter
to Rome in which they announced in writing that they would be in
communion with Rome.’ Theodore the historian senselessly calls
the bishop of Thessalonica a patriarch, not knowing the reason. 1°°

" Theod. Lect. 514 (148. 12-21), restored from Theoph. Cf. KG 70 (148. 2) = Vict.
Tonn. a.515; Syn. Vetus, 115; Joh. Ant, frg. 103, Mai. 406. 9-13; Nik. Kail. xvi. 26,

168B-C. > Theod. Lect. 515-16 (148. 22-31); cf. KG 71 (148. 4-n)-Vict.
Tonn. a.507. "Theod. Lect. 520 (150. 16-20), restored from Theoph.; cf. KG
73-4 (r50. 1-7 = Vict. Tonn. a.5rs-r6), Cyr. Scyth. V. Sab. p. r57. 16. 4 Theod.

Lect. 521 (150. 22-6).

" The syn. ves has no doubts. 'Anastasios because of the invasion of
the Goths punished the patriarchs [Makedonios and his predecessor
Euphemios] by the sword for having seen one another.’ There is no such
accusation in any near contemporary source, so it is perhaps unlikely that
Theophanes and syn. Vetus here reflect Theod. Lect. or fact. Vict. Tonn.
(usually a good indicator of Theod. Lect.) simply records that Euphemios
died at Ancyra.

* For ekxa*artiv see Tabachovitz, Studien, 33. According to P. Nautin,
REB 52 (1994), 235-7, this Theodore is the church historian Theodore
Lector.

3 In 51r5 according to Marcell. com. and Vict. Tonn., 513 according to
Zach. HE vii. 13.

‘ There survives a letter of 517 from the monks of Syria to Pope
Hormisdas, attacking Severus and supporting Chalcedon. com Ave 139.

2 Frend, Monophysite Movement, 220, suggests that Anastasios was try-
ing to use Thessalonica as a way of maintaining relations with Rome.

° Theophanes' wording is stronger than the surviving fragment of Theod.
Lect.: 'Note that the historian calls the bishop of Thessalonica a patriarch; I
know not why.’

246

Chronographia AM 5988

[am 6009, ad 516/17]

Anastasios, 26 th year
Kabades, 22nd year
Hormisdas, 4th year
Timothy, 5th year
Helias, 6 thyear
John, nth year
Severus, 5th year

IlIn this year, on the death of John Nikaiotes,’ heretical bishop of
Alexandria, Dioskoros the younger, the nephew of Timothy the Cat,
was promoted to be bishop of Alexandria. Having come to
Byzantium to plead before the emperor on behalf of the Alexandrians
concerning the murder of the son of Kalliopios, the augustalis,” he
was insulted in public by the orthodox as he made his way in pro-
cession, since they believed he had come to oppose the orthodox
doctrine. So once he had completed his mission about the murder,
he hastened away again.II" The cause of the murder was this. When
Dioskoros was ordained, the mass of the clergy withdrew saying, 'A
bishop cannot be appointed, except as laid down in the canons of the
holy apostles.’ For it was the magistrates who had enthroned him.
Dioskoros went to St Mark's and the clergy arrived and invested him
a second time and ordained him again. And so he came to St John's
and celebrated the service. As Theodosios, the son of Kalliopios the
augustalis, was there, and also Akakios, the magister militum,’ the
disorderly crowd began to abuse the augustalis for praising the
emperor Anastasios. With hatred aroused, some jumped in, dragged
the son of the augustalis from his seat, and killed him. The magis-
ter militum Akakios killed as many as he could catch. When the
emperor heard of this he became angry with them, but Dioskoros'
mission placated him.II°

uBetween the Indians and the Persians is a fort called
Tzoundadeer, which Kabades was eager to take because he had
learned that there was much money there and many precious stones.
But demons, which dwelt near by, prevented him from capturing it.
After he had tried every device that his magi and later the Jews could
think of, and still not succeeded in his object, he was persuaded that
he would gain control of it by the prayers of the Christians to God.
So he made this request to a bishop of the Christians in Persia, who,
after holding a service and partaking of the holy sacraments, went to
the place, expelled the demons that were there and effortlessly deliv-
ered the fort to Kabades. Amazed by this miracle, Kabades honoured
the bishop by giving him the first seat which, until then, had been

247

AM 5991 Chronographia

occupied by Manichees and Jews, and provided immunity for those
who wanted to be baptized. I 1°

" Theod. Lect. 522 (151. 13-18). ’ Source not known but cf. Mai. 401.
20-402. 2, Joh. Nik. 89. 35. ° Theod. Lect. 512 (146. 25-147. 15); cf xe 68(146.
8-147. 2) = Vict. Tonn. a.508.

" 22 May 516.

* In fact Kalliopios' son Theodosios was the augustatis. Kalliopios, who
was in charge of the building of Dara in 505/6, was himself magister mit
mm for the East at some point between 513 and 518, and did instruct the
police-chief \XrjaToSid>KTTj?) Konon to support the Monophysites. Mai. dates
the incident to the year 515/16 both by indiction and the era of Antioch,
which is therefore to be preferred. Mai. gives the cause as a shortage of oil
and correctly names the augustais as Theodosios, although the more
detailed fragment in pe msia calls him Patricius.

pLrE suggest Akakios was dux Aegyp, but there is no good reason for
rejecting Theophanes' description. Theophanes is the only source for
Akakios.

[AM 6010, AD 517/18]

Anastasios, 27 th year

Kabades, 23rd year

Hormisdas, 5 th year

Timothy, 6th year

Helias, 7 th year

Dioskoros, bishop of Alexandria (3 years), istyear
Severus, 6 th year

Illn this year the emperor Anastasios saw in a vision a terrifying man
holding a book which he opened and, having found the emperor's
name, said to him, 'Behold, because of your erroneous beliefs I am
expunging fourteen [years].' And he expunged them. Anastasios
awoke from his sleep, summoned Amantius, the praepositus, and
told him about the dream. He said, 'I too, saw this night that, while
I was standing by your Majesty, a great pig came and seized hold of
my cloak, knocked me down to the ground and killed me.’ So he
summoned Proklos, the interpreter of dreams, and related the vision
to him. Proklos said to them, ‘Both of you will die shortly.'Il”

nOn the death of Timothy, bishop of Constantinople,” the
emperor appointed John the Cappadocian, a presbyter and synkellos
of Constantinople, as bishop. Ordained on the third day of Easter,’
he put on the apostolic vestments. The congregation stirred up a
great disturbance to make John anathematize Severus.

248

Chronographia AM 5988

In the same year on 9 April of the nth indiction Anastasios the
impious emperor died after ruling for 27 years and 7 months,‘ in the
year 234 after Diocletian. In his place the pious Justin became
emperor, an old and experienced man who, beginning as a soldier,
had advanced to the Senate, an Illyrian by race.11Some say that
Anastasios, after being struck by a divine thunderbolt, went mad.1 I‘

O Cf. Mai. 408. 12-409. 10, Chron. Pasch. 610. 10-611. 8. > Theod. Lect.
523-4 (151- 19-27]- © Mai. 409. 17-18; cf. Theod. Lect. KG77 (151.7-9) = Vict.
Tonn. a.518. 1), Chron. Pasch. 611. 9-10.

* Amantius, cubicularius 513-18 and an opponent of Chalcedon, was
executed in 518 by Justin. See AM 6011 and Vasiliev, Justin I, 143-4.

* 5 Apr. 518.

3 17 Apr. 518 (Easter Day was 15 Apr.). Theophanes has not noticed that
this is after his wrong date for Anastasios’ death, although he implies cor-
rectly that Anastasios appointed John.

* Anastasios actually died on 9 July. Theophanes' calculation for the
length of the reign should be 27 years exactly to fit his own dates (cf AM
5983) or 27 years and 3 months to accord with reality.

am 60ii [ad 518/19]

Year of the divine Incarnation 511

Justin, emperor of the Romans (9 years), 1st year
Kabades, emperor of the Persians (30 years), 24th year
Hormisdas, bishop of Rome (10 years), 6th year

John, bishop of Constantinople (2 years), 1st year
Helias, bishop of Jerusalem (23 years), 8th year
Dioskoros, bishop of Alexandria (3 years), 2nd year
Severus, bishop of Antioch (7 years), 7th year

In this year Justin became emperor and proved excellent in all
respects, being an ardent champion of the orthodox faith and sue-
cessful in battle.’ His wife's name was Lupicia.” The people named
her Euphemia? when she was crowned Augusta. Ik After Anastasios’
death, the aforesaid Vitalian was thoroughly reconciled to Justin the
elder,* so much so that he received the rank of magister militum’
from Justinll® and, after coming to Byzantium, was granted a con-
sular procession. He was proclaimed consul® and count of the
Praesentes\\” and had such influence with Justin that he even
ordered Severus to be expelled and put to death.® For Vitalian was
strongly orthodox. On hearing this, Severus fled? and likewise
Julian, bishop of Halikarnassos. They went to Egypt,I 1‘ where they
caused trouble by raising the question of Corruptibility and

249

165

166

AM 6o0il Chronographia

Incorruptibility;I 1° this was while Dioskoros was bishop of
Alexandria.” While John the Gappadocian, bishop of Constantin-
ople, was still alive,’* bishops and clergy came from Rome invested
with the authority of Hormisdas, the bishop of Rome, and with the
support of Vitalian, and they inscribed the holy Synod of chaleedon
in their holy diptychs along with the three other synods. 11"

u With the impious Severus out of the way, Paul, the xenodochos
of the hospice of Euboulos, was appointed bishop of Antioch. n«*
The emperor gave as largess a thousand pounds of gold to the city of
Antioch and provided law and order to the other cities by curbing
disturbances among the people. 1° The pious emperor Justin exiled
Xenaias, also called Philoxenos, bishop of Hierapolis, who was a
Manichee, and also Peter of Apameia along with all who shared their
disease.II"® For plotting to usurp the throne he put to death
Amantius the praepositus, Andrew the cubicularius, and Amantios'
comes Theokritos whom Amantios wanted to make emperor. For
the praepositus had given money to Justin for him to distribute so
that Theokritos would become emperor.” But the army and people
had not chosen to make Theokritos emperor, but had proclaimed
Justin.'® So these men, being vexed, had plotted to usurp the throne
and were put to death. The emperor recalled all who had been
unjustly exiled by Anastasios, including the patrician Appion, who
had been forcibly ordained presbyter at Nicaea. The emperor now
appointed him praetorian prefect because of his good sense and made
Diogenianos magister militum per Orientem.”

In the same year a star appeared in the East, a terrifying comet
which had a ray extending downward. The astronomers described
this as bearded’. And there was fear. 1°

" Theod. Lect. 524 (151. 25- -9). * Mai. 411. 14-16; De insid. 43 (170. 23-6).

© Mai. 412. 10—22; cf. Evagr. iv. 4. 4 Cf. Mai. 411. 17-18. © Cf. Mich.
Syr. ii. 169. t Cf. Mich. Syr. loc. cit. s Mai. 411. 19-20. Theophanes adds
‘with the impious Severus out of the way’. " Cf. Mai. 422. r-8, 12—21. Cf.
AM 6or6c. "Cf. Chr. 846, 169. 3. " Mai. 410. 9-411. 13. Cf. Chron.
Pasch. 611. 19-612. 18, Mich. Syr. ii. 170, fac. Edess. 238.

" Theophanes' typical judgement on a reign, with orthodoxy linked to
success, although here it does go back to Theod. Lect. He provides little to
support this interpretation. Contrast the judgement on the supposed
Monophysite Anastasios, 'the one who ruled wickedly’ (AM 5982, 5983), and
on Zeno who ‘administered the empire harmfully' (am 5966).

‘Lupicina’ in other sources, including Theod. Lect. (Louppikina),
‘Lopicia’ in MS ‘h’, ‘Lucia’ in MS 'f,, but 'Lupicia’ in other MSS of Theo-
phanes.

3 Probably 'the people’ here is the crowd in the Hippodrome. For a simi-

250

Chronographia AM 5988

lar change of name for the emperor Tiberius' wife made by the Hippodrome
crowd, see AM 6071 with Joh. Eph. uz iii. 9 (Payne Smith, 182). The change
of name does not indicate the religious sympathies of any one circus faction.
See Cameron, Circus Factions, 145-6.

* It is noteworthy that Theophanes makes the union of these champions
of orthodoxy the first item in his account of Justin. Cf. AM 6012, where he
deliberately separates Justin from any involvement in the murder of
Vitalian.

> Appointed — imagister —_militum —praesentalis ~=seven days after reaching
Constantinople, but not till 5r9 (Marcell. com.).

. De insid. has 'ex-consul', i.e. honorary consul, which may be the mean-
ing here.

? ie. the same honour as magister militum praesentatis. Theophanes has
created two separate honours out of one. Vitalian was consul for 520.

S Justin, under pressure from Vitalian, ordered Severus’ tongue to be cut
out: Evagr. iv. 4. Cf. AM 6007, n. 1, for Severus’ hymn thanking God for the
defeat of Vitalian in 515.

° In Sept. 518. For the chronology of Severus’ flight, J. Maspero, Histoire
des patriarches _d'Alexandrie (Paris, 1923), 7O-1.

© Julian, though a friend of Severus, supported and developed an extreme
form of Monophysitism, arguing the indestructability of the body of Christ
from the moment at which it was assumed by the Logos. This doctrine of
aphthartodocetism was unacceptable to Severus and led to much polemical
argument: Liberatus, Brev. pL 68: 1033-4), Mich. Syr. ix. 3. Justinian him-
self was eventually to succumb to it at the end of his life (Theophanes sug-
gests a causal connection, see AM 6057).

" Dioskoros died on 14 Oct. 517. Other sources correctly have Timothy.
Perhaps Theophanes has aligned his text with his chronological table.

* He was patriarch 17 Apr. 518-Feb. 520.

The union with Rome was signed on 28 Mar. 519 (Maundy Thursday)
which was also the date when Justin's emissary Gratus arrived back in
Constantinople with the pope's undated reply to Justin's letter. The papal
delegation, armed with eight letters and a written instruction on their con-
duct, reached Constantinople on Palm Sunday, 24 Mar. 519. For discussion
see Vasiliev, Just 4, 170-7. Justin had first written to Hormisdas about his
election, and then again on 7 Sept; together with letters from Justinian and
patriarch John, /cou. Ave. 143, 147, 146). Gratus reached Rome on 20 Dec.
518, possibly having stopped at Ravenna for discussions with Theuderich.
For Hormisdas' delay in replying, see com. Ave 159 which argues against
Vasiliev's theory that Hormisdas' reply was written before 20 Dec. (Vasiliev,
Justin I, 165). Justin sent Gratus back to Rome for further discussions on
church unity on 9 Sept. 520 /col. Avelh 232).

“Paul, a fierce Chalcedonian, was appointed as the nominee of the papal
legates (Vasiliev, Jusin 4 206) in 5r9 (summer). Known as Paul the Jew and
much hated by the Monophy sites, he ordered the inclusion of the 630 bish-
ops at Chalcedon in the diptychs throughout his patriarchate. His ensuing
unpopularity led Justin to remove him because, as Justin explained to the

251

am59 87 Chionographia

pope, 'a bishop should always be beloved by a community’ [Coll. Avell. 241,
1 May 521).

5 Cf. AM 6012, 6016, and notes.

© Xenaias/Philoxenos was banished first to Philippupolis, where he con-
tinued to write important dogmatic works, and then to Gangra in
Paphlagonia, where he died, probably in 523. Cf. AM 5982, n. 8. Peter of
Apameia was brought to Constantinople and kept safe by the empress
Theodora along with Severus in 534/5. We know of three other
Monophysite bishops expelled by Justin from the patriarchate of Antioch,
John of Telia, Peter of Resaina, and Thomas of Dara: Devreesse, Le
Patriaicat d'Antioche, 297, 299, 302.

7 For Amantius, cf. AM 6010 and PLRE ii. 67-8. Theokritos was his
domesticus, Andrew was a Monophysite and opposed Justin's policy of sup-
port for Chalcedon (Marcell. com. year 519, Mai. 410, Evagr. iv. 2). As a
eunuch, Amantius could not have been a candidate himself, despite Vict.
Tonn. a.519, Joh. Nik. go. 3. Prok. Anecd. 6. 26, says he was executed within
10 days of Justin's accession. His expulsion was demanded by the congrega-
tion at Hagia Sophia on 16 July and his death was applauded by the congre-
gation at Tyre on 16 Sept. Zach. HE viii. 1. says he was executed for his
opposition to Justin's religious policy; Prok. Anecd. 6. 26 says it was because
of rudeness to the patriarch John.

8 Justin's letter to Hormisdas on his unwilling election [Coll. Avell. 147)
makes the army, Senate, and palace officers responsible. There is no men-
tion of the people, as Vasiliev, Justin I, 162, perceptively points out. The
pope replied that Justin was elected by heaven.

*? Apion (cf. AM 5997) had been exiled in 510 (Marcell. com. a.510, Joh.
Lyd. De Mag. iii. 17). He had been Monophysite (Severus dedicated his
Against Eutyches to him), but became a supporter of Chalcedon under
Justin and Justinian. See PLRE ii. 112. Diogenianos (cf. AM 5985-6, where
Theophanes calls him Diogenes), was probably magister militum 518-20
where there is a gap in the Fasti. See PLRE ii. 362. This would support
Theophanes against Chron. Pasch. 612 (a.519), that he became an ex-magis-
ter militum (ie. an honorary position). The other notable recall was
Philoxenos, magister militum under Anastasios, to become consul in 525.
We know of three bishops from the patriarchate of Antioch who were
recalled: Devreesse, Le Patriaicat dAntioche, 170, 182-3.

*° "It portended apostasy, destruction, and the ruin of the Church, all of
which disasters would occur’, Mich. Syr. ii. 170, reporting the Monophysite
view.

am 60i2 [ad 519/20]

Year of the divine Incarnation 512

Justin, emperor of the Romans (9 years), 2nd year
Kabades, emperor of the Persians (30 years), 25th year
Hormisdas, bishop of Rome (10 years), 7th year

252

Chronographia AM 5988

John, bishop of Constantinople (2 years), 2nd year
Helias, bishop of Jerusalem (23 years), gth year
Dioskoros, bishop of Alexandria (3 years), 3rd year
Paul, bishop of Antioch (3 years), 1st year

uIn this year Vitalian was murdered by the Byzantines, who were
furious with him because of the many people he had killed at the
time of his uprising against Anastasios.1I”

I On the death o fJohn the Cappadocian, bishop o f Constantinople,
Epiphanios, who was a presbyter of the same church and a synkellos,
was ordained on 25 February. Likewise on the death of Hormisdas of
Rome, John succeeded to the bishopric. II”

IlIn the same year the Blue faction rioted, creating disturbances in
all the cities and causing stonings and many murders. They even
attacked the authorities. This evil disorder arose in Antioch? and
from there spread to all [other] cities and lasted for five years. They
killed with their swords the Greens whom they encountered, going
up and murdering even those who were hiding at home. The author-
ities did not dare impose penalties for the murders. This went on
until the sixth year of the pious Justin. n™

"Mai. 412. 12-15. > Cf. Jac. Edess. 239, Zach. HE viii. 1 (190). ° Mai.
416. 3-11.

* Other sources say he was executed in the palace and attribute the deed
to Justinian. Joh. Nik. says he was killed on Justin's orders for plotting
against him. See PLRE ii. 1176. The date is July 520 (the 7th month of his
consulate, Marcell. com.). Theophanes has carefully removed the blame
from the pious emperor. Cf. AM 6011, n. 4.

* Hormisdas died on 6 Aug. 523, so that the chronological table, not the
narrative, is accurate here. Theophanes' dates for John of Constantinople
and Epiphanios appear to be accurate.

3 Theophanes, surprisingly, has Antioch for Mal.'s Constantinople.

4 Cf. AM 6016c (Justin's 6th year) and 6011. John of Nikiu, 90. 16, says
Justinian was involved, ‘helping the Blue faction to commit murder and pil-
lage’, perhaps an extrapolation from Justinian's support for the Blues.

[AM 6013, AD 520/1]

Justin, 3rd year

Kabades, 26 th year

Hormisdas, 8 th year

Epiphanios, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 1st year
Helias, roth year

253

168

AM 5991 Chronographia

Timothy, bishop of Alexandria (17 years), 1st year
Paul, 2nd year

In this year,’ when a war broke out between Romans and Persians,
Justin dispatched envoys and gifts to Zilgbi, king of the Huns,” who
made a pact of alliance with the emperor against the Persians,
[swearing] by his ancestral oaths. Kouades likewise sent [emissaries]
to him and Zilgbi made a pact with him, too. When Justin learned of
this, he was exceedingly displeased. Zilgbi went over to the Persians
with twenty thousand men to make war on the Romans. In making
peace overtures Justin revealed to Kouades, emperor of the Persians,
in a letter purportedly devoted to some other matter, that Zilgbi had
sworn oaths of alliance with the Romans, had received many gifts,
and intended to betray the Persians. 'It is necessary’, he added, ‘that
we, as brothers, become friends and are not made the sport of these
dogs.’ Kouades asked Zilgbi in private whether he had been set
against the Persians after receiving gifts from the Romans. He
replied, 'Yes'. So Kouades killed him in anger and during the night
sent a body of Persians which destroyed his host, since he suspected
that they had come to him treacherously.* As many as were able to
escape returned to their homeland. n°

Euphrasios of Antioch removed from the diptychs both the Synod
of Chalcedon and the name of Hormisdas, the Pope of Rome.
Afterwards in fear he proclaimed the four synods.*

liKabades, the emperor of the Persians, decided to leave the Roman
emperor as guardian of his household.> For he wanted neither his
eldest son to rule, whom Persian law summoned to hold office,° nor
yet his second son, since one of his eyes had been cut out,’ but
Chosroes, whom he loved greatly and who was his son by
Aspebedes' sister.° He resolved, therefore, to make peace with the
Romans so that Chosroes would become the emperor's adoptive son.
To this end he sent envoys to Justin at Byzantium. The emperor
summoned the Senate to consider this but did not accept the pro-
posal,’ since the senators, led by the good counsel of Proklos the
quaestor,”° an intelligent and shrewd man, described this as a trick
and a betrayal of the Romans. I\°

Mai. 414. 16-415. 19 (more detailed than Theoph.). Cf. Chion. Pasch. 615.4-616.
6. 6 Cf. Prok. BPi. 11. 1-24.

" Chron. Pasch. dates this incident to 522, probably correctly. Mai., cer-
tainly Theophanes' source here, places it after the story of Tzathios which
Theophanes dates to AM 6015. Thus Theophanes has deliberately rejected
his sources' chronology. We suspect that Theophanes, noting in Mai. that
Justin's action over Zilgbi pleased Kavad and led to peace proposals, decided

254

Chronographia AM 5988

to place this just before the adoption story, which requires a peaceful back-
ground, rather than after the story of Tzathios, which led to hostility and
was itself more suitably placed after the failure of the adoption plan, for
which he has probably also brought the date forward (see below). Having
made use of Mal.'s information about the peace plan to arrange his chronol-
ogy, Theophanes characteristically avoids mentioning it since the new con-
text makes this unnecessary. (Cf. AM 6017, n. 4, for the same technique.) His
own date, of course, can have no authority.

* Zilgbi was probably a Sabir Hun. In 515 the Sabiri had invaded and de-
vastated the Pontic provinces and Cappadocia (cf. AM 6008). The Sabiri had
settled north of the Caucasian range between the Euxine and the Caspian.
The guarding of the Caspian Gates ( = Daryal Gorge) necessarily played an
important part in Byzantine, Persian, Lazic, and Iberian relations. See
Vasiliev, Justin 1, 316, Prok. ap i. 10. Hence the importance to both
Byzantines and Persians of winning over tribes in this region.

3 On Byzantine-Persian co-operation see M. Whitby, me Emperor
Maurice and his Historian (Oxford, 1988), 204-8; Z. Rubin, Mediterranean
Historical Review, 1 (1986), 13-62 esp. 32-47.

* Euphrasios was appointed in 521, probably in the spring, so
Theophanes' date here is acceptable although in the chronological table
Theophanes wrongly begins Euphrasios' patriarchate at AM 6015.

> Apart from Theophanes, the account occurs in Prok. api. 1 and Zon.
xiv. 5. Scholars remain divided on whether it represents fact or fiction. Prok.
certainly uses it to balance his introduction to the Persian wars, which he
begins with the ‘adoption’ of Theodosios by Yazdgerd (cf. AM 5900). The legal
points involved also present problems. See P. E. Pieler, rma 19 (1972),
399-433. Theophanes is the only source to provide a date, which is accepted
by most scholars, including Vasiliev, Justin 1, 266-7, for reasons that are
close to our suggestions on Theophanes' dating of the Zilgbi episode.
However, Pzre ii. 955, Rufinus 13, shows that the date was in fact 5 years
later in 525/6 (Zach. we ix. 6. 4 dates to the 4th indiction medical advice
given to Kavad's wife by Rufinus, one of Justin's envoys sent to discuss the
adoption proposal). One cannot tell whether Theophanes' source provided a
date or not, but we can simply note that it suits Theophanes to have this
story before the Tzathios story and that it would not have been suitable to
connect the prelude to a just war (in Byzantine eyes) with the wrath of God,
as Mai. stresses, that overturned Antioch in 525/6.

6 Theophanes alone mentions this son, named Phthasouarsan at AM 6016,
though he is probably identical with Kaoses (pire ii. 259) and the Perozes
of Mai. 441. 16. Christensen, tran, 348, argues that he was the son of Kavad's
first wife and would have been brought up as a Mazdakite, which in turn
will explain his unpopularity with Kavad.

? Zam. The physical defect normally but not inevitably meant exclusion
from the throne.

8 Aspabedes is usually supposed to be a Greek misunderstanding of a
Persian title astabedh, spahbadh, OY Eran-spahbadh, cf. Christensen, Tran,
336-7. But it is possible here that it refers to a member of the house of

255

am5987 Chionographia

Aspabadh Pahlav, on which see Christensen, Jran, 102-4. That it is not the
same man as at AM 5998 is clear, for Josh. Styl. 95 tells of the death of the
astabid who had negotiated the hand-over of Amida soon after the agree-
ment was concluded.

° For a similar case of the emperor referring a difficult decision to the
Senate and, at least temporarily, accepting it, cf. the decision to campaign
against the Vandals in Africa in 533 (AM 6026, de Boor 188 and Prok. av i.
10. 1-24).

"© See pire ii. 924-5, Proculus. Previously a successful lawyer and not to
be confused with the interpreter of dreams (AM 6010), he seems to have held
the office of quaestor sacri palatii for most of Justin's reign, though he was
dead by mid-527. Prok. speaks of him as the dominant personality of the
reign (Anecd. 6. 13). He was staunchly conservative and reluctant to make
new laws.

[AM 6014, AD 521/2]

Justin, 4th year
Kabades, 27th year
Hormisdas, 9th year
Epiphanios, 2nd year
Helias, nthyear
Timothy, 2nd year
Paul, 3rd year

In this year’ Dyrrachium, a city of New Epirus in Illyricum, suf-
fered from divine anger.” The emperor provided much money for the
restoration of the city. Likewise Corinth, the metropolis of Greece,
[suffered] and the emperor showed great generosity towards it.’

"Mai. 417. 20-418. 6. Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 183. Both Mai. and Mich. Syr. continue
with further earthquakes.

Theophanes has deduced the date sensibly from Mai. but not necessar-
ily accurately. Mai. places these two earthquakes shortly after his account
of Justin's closing of the Antiochene Olympic games ‘after the 14th indic-
tion’ (i.e. 520/1) in the year 568 (i.e. of Antioch = 519/20). In between Mai.
refers to Anatolios being comes orients. Three points need noting. First,
Theophanes' date does not have independent value. Second, Mai. not only
does not give a precise date but in fact provides no precise dates between the
closure of the Olympic games (520/1) and the earthquake in Antioch, dated
to May 526 by several indicators. (Mal.'s only indicator is to place the earth-
quake in Anazarbos in the year following the earthquakes of this year.)
Third, Mai. has placed these earthquakes after his accounts of Zilgbi and
Tzathios, which may have occurred rather later (see n. 5 at AM 6013 and n. 1
at AM 6015. ) This last point can perhaps be discounted since Mai. refers to

256

Chionogiaphia AM 5992

the appointment of Euphrasios as patriarch (i.e. spring 521) after his Persian
material which he may have gathered in one place rather than dealing with
it in chronological order.

2 i.e. an earthquake.

[am 6015, ad 522/3]

Justin, 5th year

Kabades, 28 th year

Hormisdas, iothyear

Epiphanios, 3rd year

Helias, 12th year

Timothy, 3rd year

Euphrasios, bishop of Antioch (5 years), 1st year

In this year’ Tzathios, emperor of the Lazi, revolted from the
empire of the Persians during the reign of Kabades, who so loved
Tzathios that he had promoted him to be emperor of the Lazi.
Tzathios came to Justin at Byzantium and urged the emperor to
make him a Christian and let him be proclaimed emperor of the Lazi
by Justin. The emperor received him with joy, baptized him,” and
proclaimed him as his son. Tzathios married a Roman wife, a certain
Valeriana, the granddaughter of the patrician and former cuiopalates
Nomos, and took her back to his own land after being appointed
emperor of the Lazi by Justin. He wore a crown and a white imperial
cloak with a gold panel, on which the image of the emperor Justin
was depicted in embroidery, and also a white tunic with golden
embroidery and an image of the emperor, while his boots were red,
decorated with pearls in the Persian fashion. Likewise his belt was
gold, decorated with pearls. He received many gifts from the
emperor and returned joyfully to his own country. When Kabades,
the emperor of the Persian's, learned of this, he announced to the
emperor that "While peace and friendship exist between us, you are
perpetrating hostile acts by taking to yourself those who have been
subject to the dominion of Persia from time immemorial.* The
emperor declared to him in return, 'We have neither taken nor put
pressure on anyone subject to your empire,- but Tzathios came to our
palace and, prostrating himself before us, begged to be delivered from
the abominable pagan teaching, from impious sacrifices and the
deceit of demons, and to come over to God, the creator of the world,
and to become a Christian. After baptizing him, we have sent him
away to his own country.’ Thereafter there was hostility between
Romans and Persians.|I*

257

AM 5987 Chionographia

I IIn the same year the deeds concerning the holy Arethas and those
in the city of Negra were perpetrated by the Homerites,* and war was
undertaken by Elasbaas, emperor of the Ethiopians, against the
Homerites, and he was victorious.I\°

"Mai. 412. 16-414. 16. > Cf. Jac. Edess. 240; Chi. 846, a.835 (AD 524), 169.
19-20; Chi. 813, 240 (318); Mich. Syr. ii. 184b; Zach. HE viii. 3 (192-3).

' Chron, Pasch, dates this to 5 22, seemingly by consuls and indiction and
so should probably be accepted, although the dating criteria are in fact sep-
arated from the narrative. Mai., Theophanes' source again here, places it
ahead of but in the same year as the Zilgbi story, but has perhaps grouped
his Persian material (cf. AM 6014, n. 1). The Lazi, whose territory lay on the
east coast of the Black Sea between the rivers Charokh in the south and Rion
(Phasis) in the north, were considered 'a bulwark against the barbarians
dwelling in the Caucasus’ (Prok. sp ii. 28. 22). Mai. and Chron. Pasch. say
that Tzathios' father, Damnazes (Zamnaxes), formed an alliance with
Persia, which appears also to have involved religious conversion. Tzathios
seems to have rebelled against this. For the sequel, cf. AM 6020; and see also
Braund, Georgia, 276-81.

* So also Joh. Nik. The Lazi had been Christians since the 4th cent. They
had a monastery near Jerusalem and their king Gubazes had visited Daniel
the Stylite in the reign of Leo. Vasiliev, Justin 1, 262, suggests from this that
Tzathios may have been rebaptized here. But it is more likely that he was
reverting to Christianity in contrast to the beliefs and policies of his father.

> Cf. Prok. gp ii. rs. rq4-is, for the antiquity of Lazic alliances with
Persia.

* Theophanes clearly assumes that his readers know the story of Arethas
and the martyrs of Nedjran. He simply provides the date and a mention of
the successful retaliation. Cf. AM 5923, for his similar assumption on the
Seven Sleepers of Ephesos. The only parallels to Theophanes' account occur
in eastern sources although the story itself was available in Greek
(‘Martyrium S. Arethae et sociorum’, 44ss Oct. 10: 721-62. Prok. gp i. 20
covers Elasbaas' retaliation, but characteristically does not mention Arethas
or Nedjran, and so cannot be Theophanes' source). Dounaas (Dhu-Nuwas,
not to be confused with Damianos, king of the Himyarites at AM 6035), the
Jewish king of the Himyarites (Theophanes’ Homeritai, the modern
Yemen), massacred Arethas (Harith) and about 280 other Christians on 24
Oct. 523 (the date by indiction is given in the Martyrium Arethae) at Negra
(Negran, Nedjran). Theophanes' date is out by one year unless he is using the
Alexandrine indiction year. Dhu-Nuwas announced his action to the
Saracen Al-Mundhir (Alamoundaros), king of the Lakhmids (cf. AM 6005)
suggesting that he also massacre the local Christians. Al-Moundhir, how-
ever, was in the midst of friendly negotiations (at Ramlah, Jan. 524) over the
release of Roman generals (Timostratos and John, cf. AM 5988, n. 3) with the
Roman envoys (the priest Abraham and the Persian Monophysite bishop
Symeon, who is perhaps the author of the Martyrium Arethae. They in turn

258

Chronographia AM 6016

requested Justin and patriarch Timothy of Alexandria to persuade Elasbaas
(Kaleb Ella Asbeha in Ethiopic coins and inscriptions, see pire ii. 388) king
of the Ethiopians c.519-31, to mount a counter-attack on Dhu-Nuwas,
which he did, killing Dhu-Nuwas. The date of this attack was 524 or 525.
On these events see I. Shahid, The Martyrs of Najran: New Documents,
Subs. hag. 49 (Brussels, 1971).

fam 6016, ad 523/4]

Justin, 6th year

Kabades, 29 th year

John, bishop of Rome (3 years), 1st year’
Epiphanios, 4th year

Helias, 13th year

Timothy, 4th year

Euphrasios, 2nd year

uIn this year Theuderich, the Arian who ruled Rome, compelled
Pope John to go to Byzantium” to the emperor Justin and to intercede
for the Arians so that they would not be obliged to give up their
heresy;* for Theuderich was threatening to do the same to the ortho-
dox in Italy. I1* After arriving in Byzantium John, when urged by the
patriarch Epiphanios, did not consent until the bishop of Rome was
given precedence over Epiphanios.* John was in communion with all
the bishops but not with Timotheos of Alexandria.I\?

IIKouades,*® the son of Perozes, the emperor of the Persians, in a
single day destroyed thousands upon thousands of Manichees along
with their bishop, Indazaros,° and including the Persian senators
who were of their persuasion. For his third son, named
Phthasouarsan,’ whom his daughter Sambike had borne to him, had
been brought up by the Manichees and won over to their views.
They declared to him, ‘Your father has grown old and if he happens
to die, the chief magi will make one of your brothers emperor so that
their own teaching should prevail. We are able, however, by our
prayers to persuade your father to abdicate from the empire and to
assign it to you, so that you may strengthen the teaching of the
Manichees everywhere.’ He agreed to do this if he became emperor.
Having been informed of it, Kouades ordered an assembly to be held
for the alleged purpose of making his son Phthasouarsan emperor,
and ordered all the Manichees to be present at the assembly along
with their bishop, their women, and children, and likewise the chief
magus Glonazes and the magi and also the bishop of the Christians
Boazanes, who was loved by Kouades for being an excellent

259

170

171

AM 5987 Chionographia

physician. Having summoned the Manichees he said, 'I rejoice at
your teaching and, while I am still alive, I want to give the empire to
my son Phthasouarsan, who is of one mind with you. But set your-
selves apart to receive him.’ Encouraged by this, they stood apart
with confidence.® Kouades ordered his soldiers to enter and they cut
down with their swords all the Manichees including their bishop
before the eyes of the chief magus and the bishop of the Christians.
He dispatched ordinances to all territory subject to him that anyone
discovered to be a Manichee was to be put to death and burned by
fire, their property was to be confiscated by the royal treasury, and
their books were to be destroyed by fire, iI®

uThe pious emperor Justin, who was administering his empire
with complete proficiency and courage, dispatched ordinances to the
cities everywhere, that all those who were causing disorder or com-
mitting murders were to be punished, and he brought peace to the
people in Constantinople and showed he was to be greatly feared.II
He crowned his own wife Theodora as Augusta as soon as he had
become emperor. 1°° He appointed” the patrician Hypatios, the son
of Secundinus, as magister militum per Orientem to guard the east-
ern regions against the Persians and the incursions of the Saracens.
He himself carried out a great persecution of the Manichees and pun-
ished many. 1%”

" Cf. Nik. Kail. xvii. 9, 241B-C. Cf. Ps.-Dorotheos in Chron. Pasch. notes,

ii. 136, Schermann, 151. “Mai. 444. 5-18; cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 190-1.
4 Mai. 422. 12-19. Cf. Chron. Pasch. 617. 1-6. © Mai. 422. 11. > Mai.
423. 13-17.

" John was pope from 13 Aug. 523 to 18 May 526.

* The exact date of the mission to Constantinople is in dispute but
Theophanes' date is certainly wrong. The most likely date for the outward
journey is between Sept. and Christmas 525: Stein, BE ii. 795. The pope was
still in Constantinople for Easter 526 (19 Apr.) but had reached Ravenna
before his death there on 18 May 526.

> Cf. AM 6or6 for the favoured treatment granted to the Arians alone of
the heretical sects.

4 The parallel comes from the covering story to Ps.-Dorotheos, not from
his supposed work. The story also dates John's visit to 525 by consuls. The
work is generally regarded as a forgery of the 7th cent. De Boor is justified,
by the closeness of the language, in finding a parallel to Theophanes here,
although it could not be presumed to be a direct source. None the less
Theophanes' interest in the imaginary Dorotheos is shown by the references
to him at AM 5816 and 5854. The Ps.-Dorotheos story, in which John is said
to accept the validity of Dorotheos' works, is sometimes seen as an attempt
to establish the precedence of Constantinople over Rome (i.e. Andrew was

260

Chronographia AM 5988

at Byzantium earlier than Peter was at Rome) but John also is made to use
Dorotheos to argue that Peter was more important than Andrew.
npoTpaneis (urged), etc. This is either a case of clumsy abbreviation or
some words are missing. For the required sense see Nik. Kali. xvii. 9,
241B-C: Trporpa-Trels Se Tajdvwvrjs in' LOW Bpovai avveSpiaoai rw t1/S
KwvcTavTivov 7rpoeSpw ou nporepov rjvioxéTo. . . Theophanes' sentence
should then be understood thus: ‘John, when urged by the patriarch
Epiphanios [to take his seat, ver sim}, did not consent to do so. . .’.

> Mai., Theophanes' source, dates this to 528/9, accepted by Christensen,
rejected by Vasiliev; see also P. Crone, iran, 29 (1991), 30-2, on the date of
this massacre. Mal.'s dates should in principle be regarded as more trust-
worthy than Theophanes' for the reigns of Justin and Justinian, especially
since he is a contemporary. The whole affair represents a Byzantine confu-
sion of Mazdakism with Manichaeism.

® Indarazar in Mai, in which Noldeke, rabari, 462 n. 3, recognized the
Pahlavi word ‘andarzgar' meaning ‘counsellor’ or 'teacher'. Christensen,
Iran, 353, Suggests that this was very probably Mazdak himself, the founder
of the Mazdakite community.

7 Probably Kaoses (Kaus), prince of Padhashkvar (Phthasouarsan,
Tabaristan), and the eldest son by Kavad's first wife who had helped him
escape from prison. His Mazdakite education must have begun before
Kavad's expulsion. The suggestion that this was Kavad's son by his own
daughter is a Byzantine slander. See Christensen, tian, 348-9. Cf. AM 6013.

® Kavad's earlier interest in Mazdakism instead of orthodox
Zoroastrianism was almost certainly the cause of his expulsion in 496 (cf.
AM 5968, n. 5). This will haive made such a gathering credible. Christensen,
Iran, 354, Suggests it was a normal theological debate, and that it was
Khusro who arranged the massacre.

° Cf. AM 6012, where Theophanes states that disorder ended in the sixth
year. His source, Mai., actually ascribes this to Justinian and places the mea-
sure in the last months of Justin's life, as does Chron. Pasch. as well. But
Mai. had said earlier that the riots continued ‘until the appointment of
Theodotos as City prefect in the first indiction' (ie. 523/4 or Justin's 6th
year). So Theophanes at AM 6012 has tidied this up to be '6th year’ and trans-
ferred Mal.'s final notice to this year, identifying the imperial ordinances
with the end of the factional disorder.

° In Mai. this follows on from the end of factional disorder, so
Theophanes has transferred it here too. He omits the vital clause that Justin
appointed Justinian as co-emperor since he knew that event took place in
Justin's last year (see AM 6org). This is one of the more glaring examples of
Theophanes' scissors-and-paste technique. He was no doubt quite aware
that Theodora was Justinian's wife and was crowned by Justin as soon as
Justinian became emperor.

" Hypatios' appointment was also in 527 (Mai. 423).
Theophanes strengthens Justin's orthodoxy, giving him the credit by
making active Mal.'s 'the Manichaeans were punished’.

261

AM 5951 Chronographia

AM 6017 [AD 524/5)

Year of the divine Incarnation 517

Justin, emperor of the Romans (9 years), 7th year
Kabades, emperor of the Persians (30 years), 30th year
John, bishop of Rome (3 years), 2nd year

Epiphanios, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 5th year
Helias, bishop of Jerusalem (23 years), 14th year
Timothy, bishop of Alexandria (17 years), 5 th year
Euphrasios, bishop of Antioch (5 years), 3rd year

Illn this year Anazarbos, the metropolis of Second Cilicia, suffered
from a most terrifying earthquake, its governor being Kalliopios, son
of Eirenaios, and the entire city collapsed.’ Justin raised it up again
and named it Justinoupolis.* In the same year Edessa, a large and
famous city, the metropolis of the province of Osrhoene, was
engulfed through divine anger by the waters of its river. For the river
Skirtos which passes through the midst of it, provides it with great
wealth and enjoyment. At that time, being in full flood like a sea, it
dragged away the houses along with their inhabitants and sub-
merged them. There is a story current among those who were saved
that the same river had destroyed the city on other occasions but not
to the same degree. After the floods had ended, a stone tablet was
found on the bank of the river inscribed with the following message
in hieroglyphic lettering: 'The river Skirtos will skittishly skittle the
citizens.’ The emperor Justin provided much towards the restora-
tion of both cities.] 1’

IlIn the same year* there appeared a giant-like woman from
Cilicia, who surpassed in stature every full-grown man by a cubit
and was extremely broad. She travelled round the cities and received
one follis from each shop.II°

"Mai. 418. 6-419. 3. Cf. Prok. Anecd. 18. 38, Aed. ii. 7. 2-6. b Mai. 412. 4-9;
cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 179.

" For discussion of the date, cf. AM 6014 on Corinth and Dyrrachium.
Mai., however, places this in the year after Corinth. Theophanes is the only
evidence for Kalliopios.

* Theophanes appears to have transferred this sentence from Mal.'s
account of Edessa which follows.

3 For another attempt at preserving the pun ‘The river Skirtos (Leaper)
will leap terrible leapings for the citizens’, mai Trans, p. 237. Andrew
Palmer suggests to us that the line was originally Syriac, since a literal trans-
lation produces a perfect line of Syriac verse. The Skirtos (modern Daisan)
had a long history of flooding. Prok. 4ea ii. 7. 2-10, cf. Aneca 18. 38,

262

Chronographia AM 5988

ascribes the restoration work to Justinian, wrongly. See J, Wilkinson,
Egeria's Travels (London, 1971], 284-6, A. M. Cameron, Procopius and the
Sixth Century (London, 1985), 106.

4 Mai. 412 places this early in his account of Justin, seemingly in Justin's
first year, but the preceding sentence runs 'During his reign Hippodromes
were provided for the Seleukeians and Isaurians', and the giant from Cilicia
is placed in the same year. Since Mai. mentions that Edessa was founded by
Seleukos and that Justin provided it with many beautiful works, he appears
to have guessed that one of these may have been the Hippodrome. This dar-
ing methodology has enabled Theophanes to find a precise date for the
female giant instead of Mal.'s vague ‘during his reign’. It also shows the need
for caution in accepting Theophanes' dates.

[AM 6018, AD 52,5/6]

Justin, 8th year

Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (48 years), 1st year’
John, 3rd year

Epiphanios, 6th year

Helias, 15th year

Timothy, 6 th year

Euphrasios, 4th year

In this year in October of the 4th indiction’ the prelude to God's
anger visited the city of Antioch. For a great conflagration arrived
unseen in the middle of the city, which foretold the coming threat
from God. The fire was kindled at the martyrium of St Stephen and
extended as far as the Praetorium of the magister militum. This was
the beginning of anguish.? The fires lasted for six months, many
houses were burned, and many people perished. No one was able to
discover from where the fire was lit; for it flared up* from the roof-
tiles of five-storey buildings. By the mediation of the patriarch
Euphrasios the emperor granted to the city two centenaria of gold.Il*
On 20 May of the same 4th indiction, at the seventh hour, while
Olybrius was consul in Rome,’ Antioch, the great city of Syria, suf-
fered inexplicable disaster through God's anger. So great was the
wrath of God towards it that almost the entire city collapsed and
became a tomb for its inhabitants. Some of those who were buried
and still alive beneath the ground were burned by fire that came out
of the earth. Another fire came down out of the air like sparks and
burned whomever it touched, like lightning.II? The earth went on
shaking for a year.

"Mai. 417. 9-19. > Mai. 419. 5-14.

263

172.

173

am 5991 Chronographia

* Kavad's death and Khusro's accession was actually on 13 Sept. 531.

* The 4th indiction ran Sept. 525-Aug. 526. Theophanes is certainly
using the Constantinopolitan indiction year with October preceding May
(see below) in the same indiction. Mai. places the fire in the year of the end-
ing of the Olympic games (520/1) and before the earthquake at Dyrrachium.
It is unclear whether Theophanes has specific information to support his
indiction and month date or whether he has simply linked the fire to the fol-
lowing earthquake.

3 Literally 'the beginning of the birth pangs’, quoting Mt. 24: 8; Mk. 13:
8.

* For the meaning of avelau.pavev see Tabachovitz, Studien, 30 f.

> Olybrius was consul in 526 without a colleague. It is sometimes said (cf.
PLRE ii. 798) that we do not know whether he belonged to East or West.
Theophanes' passage confirms that he was a western consul.

am 6019 [ad 526/7]

Year of the divine Incarnation 519

Justin, emperor of the Romans (9 years), gth year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (48 years), 2nd year
Felix, bishop of Rome (4 years), 1st year’

Epiphanios, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 7th year
Helias, bishop of Jerusalem (23 years), 16th year
Timotheos, bishop of Alexandria (17 years), 7th year
Euphrasios, bishop of Antioch (5 years), 5th year

IllIn this year, while the earthquake continued, Euphrasios, the
bishop of Antioch, was engulfed by the earthquake and perished. II*
Every house and church collapsed and the beauty of the city was
destroyed. In all the generations no such great anger of God had
befallen any other city. On learning this, the most pious emperor
Justin was so greatly grieved in his soul that he took off both the dia-
dem from his head and the purple and mourned in sackcloth for
many days, so that when he went to church on a feast day he refused
to wear the crown or the chlamys, but went dressed very plainly in
a purple mantle and wept in the presence of the whole Senate.
Everybody wept and wore mourning like him. The emperor imme-
diately dispatched the comes Carinus,’ giving him five centenaria
for excavation, in case anyone could be saved, and to preserve what
had been buried from robbers and looters. To follow him up, he sent
the patrician Phokas,* the son of Krateros, and the patrician
Asterios, the ex-prefect,’ both learned men, giving them a great
quantity of money for the renewal of the city. On1 April of the
same 5 th indiction, on the feast of Easter,° the emperor Justin, being

264

Chronographia AM 5988

ill, appointed his own nephew Justinian to be emperor while he,
[Justin,] was still alive, and crowned him.1I° He ruled jointly with
Justinian for four months. In August of the same 5th indiction the
most pious Justin died,’ leaving Justinian emperor.ll4

uOn the death of Euphrasios, bishop of Antioch, Ephraim of
Amida, who was comes of the East at that time, was ordained in his
place, 1|° a man who showed divine zeal against the schismatics. 1 a

"Cf. Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 109. 30-110. 1, Mai. 413. 21-2. > Mai. 419. 18-422.
6. © Cf. Mai. 422. 9-12, Chron. Pasch. 616. 15-20. 4 Mai. 424. 14-20; cf
Chron. Pasch. 617. 6, Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 109. 25-6. 6 Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 109.
31-lro. 2, cf. Mai. 423. 19-22. f Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 190.

Felix was pope from 12 July 526 to 22 Sept. 5 30.

* Usually placed on 26 May 526, but this is simply the day the earthquake
began. We do not know if Theophanes has independent evidence for dating
Euphrasios' death after 1 Sept. 526.

PLRE ii. 261 suggests that Carinus was not sent out as comes iientis
since Ephraim held that post. This, however, depends on the timing, since
Ephraim was soon to replace Euphrasios as patriarch and we are ignorant of
his successor aS comes Oiienti. It is a reasonable supposition that the suc-
cessor was Carinus.

4 Cf. AM 6022. He was a pagan and, before 526, a sitentiarius.

> A former urban prefect, perhaps honorary. Under Anastasios he had
been secretary to the emperor's consistory. He and Phokas formed an
impressive pair (or together with Ephraim and Carinus, a quartet) to deal
with the crisis.

° Easter fell on 4 Apr. 527. 1 Apr. was thus Maundy Thursday.

7 1 Aug. according to Mai. and chron. Pasch, (a Sunday).

® Ephraim, a Syriac speaker who learned Greek, was patriarch until his
death in 545, a long tenure. He accepted the patriarchate unwillingly accord-
ing to Mai., but seems to have coped with the change from State to Church.
Photios credits him with several works on theology of an orthodox view-
point, while Justinian was to send him on an embassy to Arethas (Mich. Syr.
ii. 246-8). See prre ii. 394-6 and, for his patriarchate, J. Lebon,
Melanges. . . . offeites a C. Moellei (1914), i. 198-203. Mich. Syr. naturally
describes him as ‘even worse’ rather than a zealous opponent of schismat-
ics.

am 6020 [ad 527/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 520

Justinian, emperor of the Romans (38 years), 1st year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (48 years), 3rd year
Felix, bishop of Rome (4 years), 2nd year

Epiphanios, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 8th year

265

175

AM 5991 Chronographia

Helias, bishop of Jerusalem (23 years), 17th year
Timothy, bishop of Alexandria (17 years), 8th year
Ephraim, bishop of Antioch (18 years), 1st year

IIln this year Justinian the elder became sole emperor.’ He appointed
Patricius the Armenian® as comes Orientis, provided him with
money and ordered him to go out and restore Palmyra, as it is called,
a city of Phoenice Libanensis, situated on the inner limes.’ He also
gave orders that the dux be stationed there** the Holy Places.I\*

uOn 1 January of the same indiction the emperor distributed a
greater sum in consular largess than any previous emperor. 1

IlIn the same year the emperor of the Persians made war on
Tzathios the Laz for joining the Romans.’ Thereupon the emperor
Justinian sent him a detachment of troops and three magistri mili-
tum, Belisarius,° Kerykos, and Eirenaios, who gave battle and lost.’
The emperor was annoyed with the generals because their mutual
resentment had cost the victory. After dismissing them, he sent out
his notary, Peter,® as magister militum. Peter along with the Lazi
engaged the Persians, defeated them, and killed many Persians. n°

IlIn the same year, Gretes, emperor of the Elours, joined the
Romans.”° He came to Constantinople with his host and sought per-
mission from the emperor to become a Christian. The emperor bap-
tized him at Epiphany, acting as his sponsor in baptism. His
counsellors and twelve of his relatives were baptized with him.
Gretes went back to his own country, happy at having won the
emperor's friendship, and promising to fight as an ally whenever he
was wanted. I |"

The emperor appointed Tzitas as magister militum per
Armeniam," a warlike and very capable man. For Armenia had not
had a magister militum, only duces and comites.” A force of
Armenians was conscripted to serve under him, since they knew the
regions of Armenia. The emperor gave Tzitas four numeri from the
eastern army, so establishing great safety and succour for the
Romans. He also gave Kometo, the Augusta Theodora’'s sister, to
Tzitas in marriage. I \“

Illn, the same year a woman named Boarex” joined the Romans.
She was one of the Saber Huns, as they are called, a barbarian and a
widow. She led 100,000 Huns and had ruled the Hunnic territory after
the death of her husband Balach. After two kings of another race of
Huns further inland, called Styrax and Glones, had been persuaded
by Kouades, emperor of the Persians, to join him in an alliance
against the Romans, Boarex took them as they were marching with
their 20,000 across her territory towards Persia. She cut them down,

266

Chronographia AM 5988

made prisoner one of the kings, called Styrax, and sent him to the
emperor in Constantinople, and slew the other, Glones, in battle. So
she became an ally, at peace with the emperor Justinian. uf

IlIn the same year the king of the Huns near Bosphoros,” called
Gordas” joined the emperor, became a Christian, and was baptized.
The emperor received him, provided him with many gifts, and sent
him back to his own country to guard Roman territory and the city of
Bosphoros. This city received its name through paying its annual trib-
ute to the Romans in cattle instead of money, (that is, cattle-tax city.
The emperor established a numerus of Ro)"* man soldiers there under
a tribune to guard the city because of the Huns, and to exact the cat-
tle tax. In this city there were many transactions between Romans
and Huns. After the king of the Huns who had become a Christian
returned to his own country, he found his brother and told him of the
emperor's love and liberality and that he had become a Christian. He
then took the statues that the Huns worshipped and melted them
down, for they were made of silver and electrum. Enraged, the Huns
united with his brother, went away and killed Gordas, and made his
brother Mouageris king in his place. Then, in fear that the Romans
might seek him out, they fell suddenly on the city of Bosphoros and
killed the tribune Dalmatius and his soldiers. At this news the
emperor sent out the ex-consul John,” the grandson of John the
Scythian and son of the patrician Rufinus, with a large Scythian force,
and at the same time directed against the Huns Godilas,"* [who
marched] by land from Odyssopolis,” and the general Badourios.”° On
hearing this, the Huns fled and disappeared. Peace came to Bosphoros
which the Romans now ruled without fear. 1

liThe emperor Justinian took away all the churches of the heretics
and gave them to the orthodox Christians. An exception was made
of the Exakionite Arians. 1°”

IIThe emperor Justinian issued an edict concerning bishops,
oikonomoi, heads of orphanages, and hospice-keepers, that they
were not to leave any inheritance,- only such property as they held
prior to taking office were they able to bequeath. From the time of
their appointment they would not have the right to make any testa-
mentary dispositions but the ecclesiastical house was to inherit all
their goods. 1”

IIThe same emperor completed the public bath in the quarter of
Dagistheos,* which the emperor Anastasios had begun, and also
made the inner court of the basilica of Illos into a large cistern.|I'**

"Mai. 425. 10-426. 5. Theophanes differs from Mai. in various details.
> Mai. 426. 21-2, Chron. Pasch. 617. 18-21. © Mai. 427. 1-13. d Mai.

267

AM 5991 Chronographia

427. 17-428. 4. "Mai. 429. 16-430. 11. Mai. has 'governors' /apxovres) in addi-
tion to duces and comites. * Mai. 430. 20-431. 15. Theophanes adds 'So she
became an ally and at peace with the emperor Justinian.’ « Mai. 431. 16-433.
2. Theophanes has 'Scythian' for Mal.'s 'Gothic', plus other variations. h Mai.
428. 5-7. ' Mai. 430. 12-17. ' Mai. 435. 18-436. 2. Cf. Chron. Pasch.
618. 20-2. Theophanes includes 'Illos', not in Mai.

1 Aug. 527. Justinian, however, naturally dated his regnal years from
his first appointment as Augustus with Justin on 1 Apr. 527.

* In Oct. 527. We know of him only through Mai. and this passage.

3 'Inner' is not in our MSS of Mai. Cf. AM 6021, n. 9. The rebuilding was
part of Justinian's military reorganization of the eastern front. Instead of a
dux at Emesa for all Phoenicia Libanensis, a dux Was appointed for each of
Damascus and Palmyra. See Stein, sz ii. 289 for other measures perhaps
taken at this time, and also nn. 10 and 12 below.

* To fill the lacuna, de Boor suggested, on the basis of Mai. 426, 'to pro-
tect the Roman territories and’.

> Cf. AM 6015.

* Theophanes, together with Joh. Nik., the Slav version of Mai., chron.
Pasch., and late sources derived from Theophanes, have Belisarius as one of
the three generals instead of Mal.'s Gilderich, who is otherwise unknown.

? Mai. has 'many fell from both sides’.

8 Peter had been Justin's secretary, and as magister mitium had already
had experience in Lazica and Iberia helping Gourgenes against the Persians.
See PLRE li. 870.

° Again Joh. Nik. and Chron. Pasch, support Theophanes! version
against Mai. who simply says that Peter ‘withdrew from that area’.

"The Elours are the Heruls. See Stein, gz ii. 305. Theophanes and Mich.
Syr. ii. 192 both follow Mal.'s dating against Ps.-Dion., who has 532/3.
Gretes (Grepes in Mai.) is the first of a series of converts who show the link
between foreign policy and conversion to Christianity, which entailed in
effect becoming subjects of the Christian emperor of the Roman/Christian
world. Another group of Heruls, who remained Arians, were a few years
later given good land around Singidunum in return for military service. See
Prok. av ii. 14. 12; BG ii. 14. 33-6; iii. 33. 13.

" Usually spelled Sittas, he was perhaps an Armenian himself (so Stein,
BE ii. 290) or a Goth (Pree iii. 160). For his impressive career see pzre iii.
1160-3.

4 For the magister militum per Armeniam, Cf i. 29. 5 (? 5 2.8), Prok. ea.
iii. 1. 6. See Jones, zre 271 for details of these changes. They appear to have
been intended to push forward the defensive zone in Armenia and so put
more pressure on Persia. There were to be further alterations to the admin-
istration of Armenia in 536: Justinian, Nov. 20. 3 and 31. 1 (536); cf. Bury,
HLRE ii. 344; Stein, Be ii. 289; Jones, LrE 280-1.

> Boa in Mai. Theophanes has not recognized a following rex as being her
title. (She is Boa regissa in Mai., Boa rex in the Slavonic Mai., Borex in
Kedr.). Mal.'s date is indiction 6, after Jan. 528.

“4 Kertch.

268

Chronographia AM 5988

® Grod in Mai. King of the Huns of Crimea. Theophanes follows Mai. in

placing this immediately after the story of Boa. Cf. AM 6031 for another Hun
godson of Justinian and his military appointment.

‘7 Mai. gives his appointment as comes of the straits of the Pontic Sea at
Hieron. He appears to be the first to hold this office. See Stein, Bz ii. 304,
442. Together with a colleague at Abydos, they replaced the comes com-
merciorum for Moesia, Scythia, and Pontos, with a consequent transfer of
the revenue they raised from collecting import taxes. This revenue would
now go to the praetorian prefect instead of the comes saciaium largitionum.

8 Godilas was presumably magister mititum per Thracias (PLRE ii. 516).

°° Modern Varna. Stein, gz ii. 304, suggests that this was the first time

Byzantine troops had ever crossed the shores of Bessarabia and the Ukraine.
Magister mitium and dux of Scythia.
After the Arians were expelled from the city in 379 by Theodosios,
they were called Exokionites from the exokionion or ‘exterior column’,
outside the Constantinian city walls. éxokionio later developed to
Exakionion tO Exi Marmara to Turkish aii Mermer. According to the
Paria, the column was surmounted by a statue of Constantine.

* Theophanes here appears to have misunderstood a difficult passage in
his source Mai. The persons in question were able to make bequests but
only of property held and declared at the time of appointment. The Church
inherited any property acquired subsequently.

3 See prre ii. 341. The baths were near the Tetrapylon.

*4 The Yerebatan Sarayi, which still exists. Cf. Prok. sea i. 11. 12-15.
The basilica had been rebuilt by Illos in 478 (Joh. Ant., frg. 211).

am 602i [ad 528/9] 177

Year of the divine Incarnation 521

Justinian, emperor of the Romans (38 years), 2nd year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (48 years), 4th year
Felix, bishop of Rome (4 years), 3rd year

Epiphanios, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 9th year
Helias, bishop of Jerusalem (23 years), 18th year
Timothy, bishop of Alexandria (17 years), gth year
Ephraim, bishop of Antioch (18 years), 2nd year

IlIn this year Hesaias, bishop of Rhodes, and Alexander, bishop of
Diospolis in Thrace, were deposed on being convicted of pederasty
and punished terribly by the emperor. They were castrated and
paraded publicly while the crier shouted out, 'As bishops, you are
not to abuse your holy dress.’ The emperor introduced harsh laws

269

AM 5991 Chronographia

against licentious behaviour, and many were punished. This pro-
duced considerable fear and security.! \*

u The pious emperor restored all the ancient laws and published
them in a single book entitled 'The New Constitutions’.* In them he
forbids a magistrate to buy property in the area of his jurisdiction, to
build a house or inherit from another person unless he happens to be
a relative. \

IlIn the same year on Wednesday 29 November in the third hour,
indiction 7, Great Antioch again suffered from divine anger, two
years after its first disaster. The great earthquake lasted for one
hour and there was a terrifying roar from heaven. All the buildings
fell to the ground, even the walls as well; and those old buildings
that had not fallen in the first earthquake now collapsed. All the
magnificence with which the city had been invested through acts of
generosity by the emperor and through the buildings erected by cit-
izens at their own expense, was all destroyed. When the neighbour-
ing cities heard about it, they held litanies in mourning. 4,870 people
perished‘ in the collapse. The survivors fled to other cities and began
living in huts in the mountains.I 1° Then came a harsh and very
severe winter. Those who remained went on processions in prayer,
all of them barefoot, weeping, throwing themselves headlong into
the snow and crying out, ‘Lord, have mercy!’ It was revealed in a
vision to one pious man that he should tell all the survivors to write
on the lintels of their doors 'Christ is with us. Stand.’ When this was
done, God's anger ceased. I‘ Again the emperor and the Augusta pro-
vided much money towards restoration and rebuilding in the city of
Antioch. He changed its name to Theoupolis.1l®

Il On 21 March of the 7 th indiction,° Alamoundaros son of Zekike,
kinglet of the Saracens, invaded and looted First Syria as far as the
boundaries of Antioch, at a place called Litargon,’ and the estates of
Skaphathai. He killed many people and burned the territory outside
Chalcedon and the Sermian estate and the Kynegian country.® The
news brought the Roman commanders out against him. When they
realized this, the Saracens, with the Persians, took their booty and
prisoners and fled across the inner limes. uf?

I In April of the same 7th indiction, a detachment of the army dis-
patched by the emperor, plus the infantry of the so-called
Lykokranitai from Phrygia, arrived."° The emperor appointed
Belisarius as magister militum per Orientem to succeed the patri-
cian Hypatios, son of Secundinus.” On 12 May the magister
Hermogenes™ the Scythian arrived in Antioch. He was a learned
man and had been sent as an envoy by the emperor Justinian to dis-
cuss peace with the emperor of the Persians. I 1?

270

Chronographia AM 5988

IIIn June the Samaritans and Jews in Palestine crowned a certain
Julian as emperor and took up arms against the Christians, against
whom they committed robbery, murder, and arson.” God delivered
them into the hands of Justinian. He destroyed them all and
beheaded the usurper Julian. I \"

llThe magistei Hermogenes, who had brought gifts with him on
his peace mission, was received in July of the same 7th indiction by
Chosroes,* emperor of the Persians, 1 who accepted the gifts but
refused to make peace, since he had been influenced by Samaritan
fugitives who promised to hand over their country to him, that is all
of Palestine, claiming they had as allies Jews and Samaritans
totalling 50,000 men. Trusting them, Chosroes rejected peace.
Through them he hoped to capture great Jerusalem, with its
countless centenaiia of gold and its many precious stones. He made
the gold-mines in the mountains of Armenia his pretext.’? Earlier
they had paid a talent in tribute to both Romans and Persians, but
now this was being paid to the Romans alone. He wrote to the
emperor raising some other matters as well by way of excuse. But
the intrigue of the Samaritans was discovered and they were
arrested at Ammadios” on their return journey from Persia. These
were five rich Samaritans who were handed over to Belisarius, the
magister militum. After questioning they revealed the whole
story. 0

IIIn the same period, the dux of Palestine quarrelled with the phyl-
arch of the Saracens subject to the Romans. The phylarch went in
fear to the inner limes. When Alamoundaros heard about this, he
went in pursuit, captured him and killed him, took his women and
children, and returned. At this the duces of Phoenicia, Arabia, and
Mesopotamia plus the phylarch went chasing after him. When he
heard this, Alamoundaros fled to Indian territory where none of the
Romans had ever been. The Romans captured the Saracen tents and
took many of them prisoner, men, women, and children, and as
many Roman prisoners as they found, plus camels, sheep, oxen, and
much silk and clothing. In addition they burned four Persian forts,
and then returned after a great victory. 1”

@ Mai. 436. 3-16. Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 221. b Mai. 437- 3-7 [Mai. is more
detailed). © Mai. 442. 18-443. 5- a Geo Mon 643- 6-10.
© Mai. 443. 1-3, 443. 16-17. Mai. 445. 1-7. Theophanes is more detailed. Cf.
Joh. Nik. 90. 79-80 (pp. 142-3), who reproduces the same source. s Mai. 445.
10-19. 2 Mai. 445. 19-447. 2; cf. Cramer, Eccl. Hist. no. 12-15. ' Mai.

1 * k +
447. 22-448. 2. Mai. 455. 10-456. 17. Mai. 434. 19-435. )7-

* Cf. AM 58r6 (deBoor 23) and n. rg for Constantine's attitude to adulter-
ous bishops. In general on morals Justinian simply endorsed the legislation

271

179

AM 5901 Chronographia

oF his Christian predecessors (though for some extension see Nov. 77, 141),
but punishment in practice may have been more severe. Something of this
attitude is seen in the legislation on morals proposed for the Himyarites
(Homeritamm Leges, PG 86. 1: s8r ff.) and in the description of the punish-
ment on this occasion, preserved by Mai. 436. 3-16, Theodosios ofMelitene,
Chion. 90 (Tafel) and Kedr. 645-6: 'He mutilated the genitals of some and
ordered that sharp straws be inserted into the genitals of others and they
were to be paraded naked in the forum.’ See Bury, #zre, ii. 412-13. On the
favourable attitude to fear, see Scott, pop 39 (1985), 103-4. Theophanes fol-
lows Mai. in placing this immediately after the account of the baths of
Dagistheus and the cistern of Illos, but in Mai. these events are in the same
year. Theophanes may have decided that this was a suitable (and perhaps
conventional) point for breaking the year, with buildings to conclude one
year and morals to open the next. Mal.'s next event is the earthquake at
Pompeiopolis which Theophanes transfers to AM 6028 (535/6).

* This refers to the first edition of Justinian's code, published on 7 Apr.
529. The law on magistrates is ci. 53. r. (Nov. 528). On the survival of
chronicle accounts of Justinian's codification and the lack of references in
other sources, see Scott, in E. and M. Jeffreys and A. Moffatt, eds., Byzantine
Papers (Canberra, 1981), 12-31.

3 Cf. AM 6018 and 6019. Mai. also seems to place the earthquake within
his account of the 7th indiction (he ends the 6th at 441. 8-12), so confirm-
ing Theophanes' date. On the varying dates in other sources, see Stein, Bz
ll. 420 n. 2.

‘ The precise figure (as against Mal.'s round 5,000) gains some support
from Mich. Syr.'s 4,770.

> Theophanes' version supports the first hand of the Mai. MS
[Baroccianus 182) aS against a later hand which attributed the change of
name to St Symeon the miracle-worker. A version of Cramer's £cct Hist.
(no. 7-9) dates the change wrongly to Justin's reign.

© Cf. AM 6005, n. 18 for Alamoundaros (Al-Mundhir) and his supposed
conversion to Christianity. It was probably during this attack on Antioch
that Alamoundaros supposedly sacrificed 400 Christian virgins to his
favourite divinity. See Zach. we viii. 5.

7 Otherwise Litarba (modern El-Terib) between Beroia and Antioch,
about 60 km. from Antioch. It belonged to Chalkis, pace Honigmann, re
xiii. 739-40 (1926), Litarbai (sic). See also D. Feissel, syria, 59 (1982), 326 ff.
on places mentioned here.

8 Chalcedon should be Chalkis, the modern Qinnesrin,- Sermion (modern
Sarmin), in north Syria, a village in the district of Kynegike belonging to
Antioch (Evagr. iv. 38). The location of Skaphathai is unclear, cf.
Honigmann, e£ ii/5. (1927), 439, ZKa<fa6cbv KT-=jxa. On Kynegike, cf. id.,
RE ii/8. (19321,1564, Syria.

° Theophanes has substituted ‘inner’ for Mal.'s ‘outer’. Cf. AM 6020a and
6021k where Theophanes also has 'inner' against Mai. who, in the first case
just has simes and in the second uses a different word for ‘inner’. B. Rubin,
Das Zeitater fustinians (Berlin, i960), 492-3 n. 820, suggested that the

Chronogra phia AM 6024

change here may be for stylistic unity from a writer who no longer under-
stood the difference between an inner and outer limes. But G. W.
Bowersock, HSCP 80 (1976), 216-29 ““P- 22:79, has argued from Mai. that
for this area limes means a whole region since people travelled through it,
and that 'inner' and 'outer' mean respectively ‘inside and outside the fron-
tier’ as an ‘outer’ limes, would be meaningless since it would refer to foreign
territory. See also P. Mayerson, 38 (1988), 181-3, against Bowersock; and
cf. B. Isaac, JRS 78 (1988), 125-47, who inter alia argues from Mai. 308 that
there is a distinction between limites and frontier, with limes referring to
‘specific districts where forts are buiit rather than to the system of forts
itself (p. 136).

"© Mai. explains this as a reprisal for Afamoundaros' invasion, adding that
they set out for Saracen and Persian territory, but does not provide a date.

“ Hypatios was presumably dismissed for his failure to curb
Alamoundaros. See Stein, BE ii. 284-6.

* Theophanes alone provides the precise date here. Hermogenes was
magister officiorum 529-33.

> Mal.'s account is more detailed than Theophanes', but there are many
other accounts. See Stein, BE ii. 287-8. Of these Mai. at De insid. 44 (171.
6-34) sees the revolt as a natural Saracen response to Christians stoning
Samaritan children as they came out of the synagogues. In about 528
Justinian ordered the destruction of all Samaritan synagogues and a prohibi-
tion on building new ones [CJi. 5. 17, cf. i. 5. 18 and for the date i. 5. 19. 4).
After this revolt and prompted by St Sabas, who at the age of 92 came to
Constantinople to complain of the outrages committed by the Samaritans,
Justinian strengthened the legislation. Cf. AM 6047, 6048, and see Stein, BE
ii. 373, S. Winkler, Klio, 43-5 (1965), 435-57, J. A. Montgomery, The
Samaritans (Philadelphia, 1907), 113-24.

“ Hermogenes had gone to Ctesiphon to make the official announce-
ment of Justinian's elevation (Mai. 448). Theophanes has here combined
Mal.'s accounts of different embassies and reports (Mai. 448, 449-50, 454-6).
This in turn will help explain his transfer of intervening material to later
years, most notably the embassy to Axoum (Mai. 457) which Theophanes
transferred to Justin II at AM 6064. Cf. AM 6023, n. 5. Since Theophanes made
AM 6017 (524/5) Kavad's last year as emperor, he has also wrongly but delib-
erately changed Mal.'s Kavad to Khusro here. Kavad's death and Khusro's
accession occurred on 13 Sept. 531. Kavad's decision to reject peace also
belongs to the following year (Mai. 45 5-6).

® i.e. Persarmenia. Cf. Prok. BP i. 15. 18-19, 26-3° (a cyclic digression)
on the acquisition of the mine.

‘7 Mai. dates this precisely to Apr. of 6th indiction (omitted in Bonn edn.
but present in the manuscript, see Bury, BZ 6 (1897), 229) i.e. in Justinian's
first year. It is not obvious why Theophanes has transferred it here and
replaced Mal.'s precise date with the vague 'in the same period’. (It is note-
worthy that Theophanes had found one event per month for the year from

273

180

181

am 5991 Chronographia

Mar. to July.) Possibly Theophanes believed this great victory over
Alamoundaros could not have been followed by Alamoundaros' attacks
around Antioch.

am 6022 [ad 529/30]

Year of the divine Incarnation 522

Justinian, emperor of the Romans (38 years), 3rd year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (48 years), 5 th year
Felix, bishop of Rome (4 years), 4th year

Epiphanios, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 10th year
Helias, bishop of Jerusalem (23 years), 19th year

Timothy, bishop of Alexandria (17 years), 10th year
Ephraim, bishop of Antioch (18 years), 3rd year

Illn this year,’ indiction 8, the emperor Justinian carried out a great
persecution against the pagans and every heresy and confiscated
their property.” The ex-referendarius Makedonios was denounced
and also the ex-prefect Asklepiodotos who, in fear, took poison and
died. Pegasios of Helioupolis was tried by the courts along with his
children. Among others, the patrician Phokas, son of Krateros, and
the quaestor Thomas were arrested,’ and there was great fear. The
emperor decreed that pagans and heretics could not hold civic office,
but only orthodox Christians [could do so]. He gave them a period of
three months to convert.I\*

uIn March, of the same 8 th indiction, Hermogenes, the ex-consul
and magister, and Rufinus, the ex-magister militum and patrician,
[came] to Antioch on an embassy to Persia. When they reached
Daras, they sent a message to the emperor of the Persians that he
should receive them. While they remained at Daras along with
Belisarius, magister militum per Orientem, and the other Roman
commanders, being encamped a short distance outside the city,
news of it reached Meram, the Persian emperor's foremost general,
who was in Nisibis with a large Persian force, together with the
emperor's son and the remaining Persian generals. In June of the 8th
indiction he attacked, dividing his own force into three sections. At
this news the Roman generals along with the magister set out on a
skilful campaign against the Persians, and there was a great battle
and a terrible clash. The Romans struck down the Persians and
destroyed them, even capturing their standard. Meram and the son
of the Persian emperor and a few survivors escaped to Nisibis. So the
Romans won a great victory.* When the Persian emperor learned the
news, he ordered the patrician Rufinus to approach him accompa-

274

Chronogra phia AM6024

nied only by the comes Alexander. u°> They made their entry in
August, and, after much discussion, established the terms of peace
and departed peacefully.

"Mai. 449. 3—ii; cf. Joh. Eph. HE at Ps.-Dionysius, a.852, Mich. Syr. ii. 207.
b Mai. 452. 13-453. 14

Mai. dates this within 529 (Decius still being consul some pages later).
opi. 5. 18. 4, andi. 5. 11. 10 show that Justinian had now (in 529)
extended the death penalty for those who had been baptized but practised
pagan rites. Stein, sz ii. 370 suggests that the preamble to cri. 5. u refers
to this persecution.

3 Theophanes is to be preferred to Mai. here in saying that Phokas and
Thomas were arrested rather than executed. Prok. anecd. 11. 31, which
deals with the persecution of pagans, does not mention executions. Thomas
is attested as quaestor on 13 Feb. 528 (Const. Hae) and 7 Apr. 529 (Const.
Summa but was replaced by Tribonian before 17 Nov. 529 of vii. 63. 5,
Stein, se ii. 371). Bury, wzre- ii. 368 argued from this that the trials must
have lasted a long time, but in Novel 35 (23 May 535) Thomas is described
AS gloriosissimae recordation, Which means both that he was by then dead
and had been either acquitted or reinstated. Phokas was praetorian prefect
in 532. In a later persecution instigated by John of Ephesos probably in 546
(Justinian's 19th year, but Ps.-Dion. also calculates by the Alexandrine era,
year 852 being AD 540/1 while John of Ephesos associates Justinian with
Justin still in 5 31), when a large number of senators, grammarians, sophists,
lawyers, and physicians were denounced, whipped, and imprisoned, Phokas
committed suicide, perhaps explaining Mal.'s confusion. There was a fur-
ther pagan scandal in 559 according to Mai. 491, but dated to 562 by Stein,
BE ii. 799 ff.

4 Cf. Prok. ap i.*i3. 9-14. 55, Stein, Bz ii. 288.

> Alexander was sent as envoy to Persia again in 531 (Prok. BP 1.22.1) and
to Italy in 534 (Prok. ae i. 3. 13-16, 6. 26).

[am] 6023 [ad 530/14]

[Year of the divine Incarnation] 523
Justinian, 4th year

Chosroes, 6thyear

Boniface, bishop of Rome (2 years), 1st year’
Epiphanios, 11th year

Helias, 20th year

Timothy, 11th year

Ephraim, 4th year

lIIn September of this year in the 9th indiction,* there appeared an
enormous and frightening star in the west. It was a comet that sent

275

AM 6023 Chronographia

upward its flashing rays. People called it the Torch and it continued
to shine for twenty days. All over the world riots and murders
occurred.’

At the end of November‘ the patrician Rufinus returned to the
emperor Justinian from his embassy to Persia, having fixed the terms
of peace. The emperor received him and was very pleased with the
peace and rejoiced at the appointed terms. So there was peace in the
affairs of both [states], I 1°°

"Mai. 454. 5-14. Cf. John of Ephesos, a.854 (van Douwen and Land, 227), Mich.
Syr. ii. 205.

* Boniface was pope from 22 Sept. 530 to 17 Oct. 532.

* Mai. has no close indication of date but places the event between 530
and indiction 10 (531/2], so Theophanes' date is probably sound.

3 Earlier sources draw attention to the comet as a presager of doom. Mai.
includes drought; John of Ephesos, stressing Syriac hostility to the reign, has
‘who were waiting for what would happen after that portent saw many wars,
the spread of fear, hunger, drought’. Theophanes' rather softer approach may
reflect his misunderstanding of the peace treaty in the following paragraph.

* Mai. has Sept.

> Theophanes has here either conflated the ‘eternal’ peace of 532 (Mai.
477. 13-478. 7) and the treaty of this year, which Kavad refused to ratify, or
his acceptance of this treaty as a real peace has led him to omit the eternal
peace of 532. Cf. AM 6021 (i), where he refers to Khusro's rejecting what was
actually the treaty mentioned here. For this treaty, see Prok. BPi. 16. 10 (end
of Justinian's 4th year); for the ‘eternal’ peace, Prok. BP i. 22. 17-18
(Justinian's 6th year). In general for Justinian's reign, Theophanes plays
down war with Persia, especially Persian successes (see AM 6031), while
mentioning Belisarius' success at Dara @M 6022) leading to peace, and later
stressing Belisarius' minor success (AM 6033). This is in contrast to the dis-
proportionate space given to the Vandal War @M 6026).

[am] 6024 [ad 531/2]

[Year of the divine Incarnation] 5 24
Justinian, 5th year

Chosroes, 7th year

Boniface, 2nd year

Epiphanios, 12th year

Helias, 21st year

Timothy, 12th year

Ephraim, 5th year

Illn this year, the 5th of Justinian's reign, in January of the 10th indic-
tion,’ occurred the so-called Nika? revolt. ll’ The members of the cir-

276

Chionogiaphia AM 6024

cus factions crowned as emperor Hypatios, the relative? of the

emperor Anastasios. A large part of the city was burned, including

the Great Church, St Eirene, the hospice of Sampson, the Augustaion,

the portico of the Basilica, and the Bronze House of the palace.* There

was great panic and many of those found in the Hippodrome with

Hypatios perished—the number reported is 35,000."
liThe Nika riot occurred in the following way. The factions went

up into the Hippodrome and the Greens began to shout acclama-

tions® about Kalopodios’ the cubicularius and spathaiios.

Greens: Long may you live, Justinian Augustus! Tu vincasl? I am
wronged, O paragon of virtue, and cannot endure it, as God knows.
I am afraid to give his name in case he prospers the more, and I put
myself in danger.

Herald:° Who is he? I do not know.

(Greens): My oppressor, thrice-august, can be found in the shoe-
makers’ quarter.”

Herald: No one does you wrong.

Greens: One man and one man only does me wrong. Mother of God,
may he not hold his head up high.

Herald: We do not know who he is.

Greens: You and you alone know, thrice-august, who oppresses me
today.

Herald: Come now, if there is someone, we do not know him.

Greens: Kalopodios, the spathaiios, does me wrong, O lord of all.

Herald: Kalopodios is not at fault.

Greens: Whoever he is, he will share the fate of Judas. God will
speedily exact a penalty from my oppressor.

Herald: You have not come here to watch, but only to insult your
rulers.

Greens: Surely anyone who wrongs me will share the fate of Judas.

Herald: Silence, you Jews, Manichaeans, and Samaritans!

Greens: Do you call us Jews and Samaritans? May the Mother of God
be with everyone.

Herald: How long are you going to curse yourselves?

Greens: If anyone denies that our lord is orthodox, let him be anath-
ema, like Judas.”

Herald: lam telling you: Get baptized in one [God].”

The Greens shouted above each other and chanted, as Antlas

demanded,” 'I am baptized in one [God].'

Herald: Surely, if you do not keep quiet, I shall behead you.

Greens: Everyone tries to get office for security. So whatever we say
in our distress, Your Majesty should not get angry, for deity
endures everything.

2-77

182

AM 6024 Chronographia

{Herald:}*°

Greens: We have a case, emperor, and we shall now name every-
thing. We do not know even where the palace is, thrice-august, nor
where is the state ceremonial.”° I come only once to the City,
when I am seated on a mule.”” And I would rather not then, thrice-
august.

Herald: Every free man can go where he likes in public without dan-
ger.

Greens: To be sure, I am a free man,’ but I am not allowed to show
it. For if a free man is suspected of being a Green, he is sure to be
punished in public.

Herald: Are you ready to die then, and will you not spare your own
lives?

Greens: Let this colour be removed’? and justice disappears. Stop the
murdering and let us face punishment. See here a gushing foun-
tain, punish as many as you like. Truly, man's nature cannot bear
these two things. Would that Sabbatios*® had not been born, so he
would not have had a murderer for a son. It is the twenty-sixth”
murder that has taken place in the Zeugma.”” A spectator in the
morning and murdered in the afternoon, lord of all.

Blues: The only murderers in the whole stadium are yours.

Greens: You kill and run away.

Blues: You kill and walk about [freely]. The only murderers in the
stadium are yours.

Greens: Lord Justinian, they are asking for it and yet no one is killing
them. Whoever wants to will understand. The woodseller, the
one in the Zeugma—who killed him, emperor?

Herald: You yourselves killed him.

Greens: Who killed the son of Epagathos, emperor?

Herald: You yourselves killed him, and now you are involving the
Blues.

Greens: Now, now, have pity O Lord. Truth is being suppressed. I
want to quarrel with those who say events are controlled by God.
For what is the source of this misery?

Herald: God cannot be tempted with evil.**

Greens: God cannot be tempted with evil? But who does me wrong?
If there is a philosopher” or hermit here, let him explain the dif-
ference.

Herald: You God-hated blasphemers, will you never be silent?

Greens: If it pleases Your Majesty, I shall keep quiet, but against my
will, thrice-august. I know it all, every bit of it and I say nothing.
Farewell, Justice, you exist no more. I shall turn and become a Jew.
Better to be a pagan than a Blue, God knows.

278

Chronogra phia AM 6024

Blues: | hate it. I do not want to see it.”° Your malice is galling.
Greens: Let the bones of the spectators be dug up!II°”

liThe Greens departed and left the emperor and the Blues as spec-
tators. I‘ And immediately a pretext for a faction riot was offered by
some officials”® in the following way. The prefect arrested three par-
tisans among the trouble-makers and had them hanged.”? One died
immediately, but the other two fell from the gibbet. They were
hanged again, and again fell.*® The crowd of bystanders saw them
and chanted, 'Get them to the church!’ The monks of St Konon*®
heard, carried them to a small boat and took them across to St
Laurence,” as that church had the privilege that no one was to be
ejected from it until such time as he had suffered sufficiently.” On
hearing of this, the prefect sent soldiers to guard them.lI® When the
partisans learned of this, they went off?* to the Praetorium and asked
the prefect to remove the soldiers on guard at St Laurence. They got
no reply from him, so, enraged, they set fire to the Praetorium. 11 The
porticoes from the arch of the Forum to the Chalke were burned, and
also the shops of the silversmiths and the whole palace of Lausos”
were destroyed by fire. They killed unsparingly the soldiers who
attacked them. Then they broke into houses and began to loot their
contents.1T hey set fire to the entrance of the palace (the one with
the bronze roof),?° the portico of the Protectores, and the senate-
house?’ by the Augustaion. The partisans went down to the Julian
harbour (I mean that of Sophia), to the palace of Probus®® in search
of weapons, crying 'Another emperor for the city!’ They set fire to
the palace of Probus which was gutted. 11"3° Next*® they went and
burned the baths of Alexander, the great hospice of Sampson (where
the patients perished),I! and the Great Church along with all its
columns. It collapsed entirely on all four sides.”

The emperor, in terror, wanted to load his moneys on to a dromon
and get away as far as Herakleia in Thrace,” leaving the magister
militum Moundos“ to guard the palace, along with Moundos' son,
3,000 men, Konstantiolos and the cubicularii. IIThe partisans
dragged away the corpses and tossed them into the sea, also killing a
large number of women.1When a rumour had got around that the
emperor had taken the Augusta and left for Thrace, they proclaimed
the patrician Hypatios emperor, and as he sat in the Hippodrome, he
was acclaimed by the partisans and listened to the insulting jeers
directed against the emperor Justinian.** Two hundred young
Greens in armour came from Flacillianai*® intending to open the
palace and bring Hypatios in. IK

IIThe emperor, when he heard of these bold moves by the partisans
and by Hypatios, went into the palace and up to the Pulpita (as they

279

184

185

186

AM 6024 Chronographia

are called), behind the Kathisma of the Hippodrome, to the dining-
room with the bronze doors. He had with him Moundos,
Konstantiolos, Belisarius,*” and other senators plus a detachment of
armed soldiers, cubicularii, and spatharioi. The cubicularius
Narses*® went out and won over some of the Blue faction by a dis-
tribution of money. They began chanting, ‘Justinian Augustus, tu
vincasl Lord, preserve Justinian the emperor and Theodora the
Augusta!’ The crowd was split and people began attacking one
another. Those in the palace went out with their forces, detached
some people from the partisans, and rushed into the Hippodrome,
Narses by the gates, Moundos' son by the Sphendone, others by the
narrow passage from the imperial box into the arena. They started
slaying the partisans, some with their bows, others with their
swords: in the end not one of the citizens, either of the Greens or of
the Blues, who were in the Hippodrome, survived. Belisarius ran into
the Kathisma with a number of spatharioi, arrested Hypatios, led
him to the emperor, and had him put in prison.

The day's casualties amounted to 35,000.*? No partisan was to be
seen any longer; indeed on that day peace was restored. On the next
day** Hypatios and his brother Pompeius were executed. Their bod-
ies were thrown into the sea and their estates were confiscated. A
further eighteen patricians, illustrcs, and consulars had their prop-
erty confiscated as associates of Hypatios.* This produced consid-
erable fear and the city calmed down. The chariot races were not
held for a long time. I1™

Illn the same year there occurred a great movement of stars from
evening till dawn. Everyone was terrified and said, 'The stars are
falling,*” and we have never seen® such a thing as that before.’Il”

" Chron. Pasch. 620.3-4. > Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 112.19-27. “ Cf. Chron.
Pasch 620. 4-12. “ Chron. Pasch. 620. 12-13. © Mai. 473. 5-474. 1.
f Mai. 474.14-17. * Cf. Chron. Pasch. 623. 6-9, Mai. 474.17-20. Chron.
Pasch. 621. 17-21; 622. 2-6. " Chron. Pasch. 622. 11-15. "Chron. Pasch.
621.21-622.2. * Cf. Chron. Pasch. 622. 18-21. " Chron. Pasch 625. 5-15;
cf. 624. 1-19. ™ Chron. Pasch. 625. 15-628. 16. " Mai. 477. 10-12.

* The date is taken from Mai. Theophanes' account of the riot falls into
three discrete sections: first, a general summary; second, the odd circus dia-
logue; third, a more detailed account based on the original Mai. for which
the best witness is the still defective account preserved in Chron. Pasch.
Theophanes' first paragraph is in effect a summary taken verbatim from
Eccl. Hist.

> 'Conquer'.

3 In fact nephew, son of Anastasios’ sister and Secundinus. On Hypatios,
cf. AM 5997, 6005, 6006, 6016, 6021.

280

Chronographia AM 6024

* Given in almost reverse order to that in the following narrative, where
St Eirene is omitted.

> The figure is repeated at the end of the narrative.

© De Boor, followed by most commentators, punctuates after 'the Greens
began to chant’ so that what follows appears as the title of the dialogue. Our
punctuation follows Tabachovitz, stdien, 45.

? His identity is disputed. The name was common enough among
eunuchs. P. Karlin-Hayter suggests it is a nickname for Narses, noting that
both Kalopodios (or perhaps Kalapodion) and Narses were cubicularii in 5 3 2,
held the post of pracpositus sacri cubicui and were military men in the
550s. (Cf. AM 6051.) She points out too that a Kalopodios was praepositus
sacri cubiculi Under Leo (v. Dan. Styl. 49 and 80). See P. Karlin-Hayter, Byz
B (1973L 87-8, and Studies in Byzantine Political History (London, 1981),
ili. 9, PLRE iii. 267-8, Calopodius 1.

® The following dialogue also survives in Chron. pase. in an abbreviated
form, but, as P. Maas, gz 21 (1912), 28-51 and Cameron, Circus Factions,
322-9, have shown, the dialogue was not an original part of the text of
Chron. Pasch, but was a later interpolation to fill a lacuna and was almost
certainly taken from Theophanes. Cf. Whitby and Whitby, cironicon
Paschale, 113, who suggest the original Malalas as the ultimate source.
Nevertheless Theophanes is the earliest surviving source for the dialogue.
Maas, followed by Cameron, argued that the dialogue is not connected with
the Nika revolt. Cameron has demonstrated that Theophanes has substi-
tuted the dialogue for the first section of Mal.'s account, believing it covered
the same incident. Thus it cannot be taken for granted that the dialogue had
anything to do with the Nika riot. Cameron argues that Theophanes, what-
ever his source (Maas and Cameron both suggest Joh. Ant.), was the first per-
son to associate it with the Nika riot. Against this cf. Whitby and Whitby
Chronicon Paschale, 113-14.

Theophanes' main source for the riot is the original Mai. preserved in this
case mainly in Chron Pasch. (There is no need to assume, with Bury, that
Theophanes and Chron. Pasch. used a second common source: see n. 39
below.) Given that Theophanes rarely appears to have combined more than
two sources for any one incident and that there are some difficulties in
believing the source for the dialogue was Joh. Ant., as Cameron recognizes
(op. cit. 328), a more likely contender is the Ecclesiastical History, Which
provided Theophanes with his introductory summary. In that case it may
well have followed immediately or soon after the summary of the riot, so
persuading Theophanes to incorporate it in his account. We would not wish
to press this suggestion.

The other main interest in the dialogue is its metrical character, first for-
mulated by Maas, art. cit., and modified by P. Karlin-Hayter, studies in
Byzantine Political History (1981), i. 1-13. Against this Cameron argues
that the acclamations are more rhythmical than metrical. Much of the argu-
ment here is on the latitude allowed to an editor to produce a metrical ver-
sion and how much the metrical character was produced impromptu or
prepared in advance, but there is at least general agreement that many of the

2,81

AM 6024 Chronographia

Greens' lines have a syllabic and accentual regularity, be that metrical or
rhythmical.

° ie. 'May you conquer’. Cf. A. D. E. Cameron, Pozphyrius the
Chariotwer (Oxford, 1973), 77-9, 248.

© In the late Empire it seems to have been normal for an emperor to
address the crowd through a herald rather than by gesture or in writing,
methods considered more courteous during the Principate. See Cameron,
Circus Factions, 166-8.

“ Shoemakers' quarter is r‘ayyapela) which may be a play on KaXovoSiov
‘cobbler's last'; so J. Goar in 1655 followed by Maas, Bury, Diehl, Karlin-
Hayter, and Cameron.

* i.e. the Greens are claiming to be as orthodox as the thoroughly ortho-
dox emperor.

% Cameron, Circus Factions, 320 believes this is a question rather than
a command.

“ Antlas is presumably the cheer-leader of the Greens rather than the
‘'demarch’, a title first attested at the ‘end of the 6th-cent. See AM 6094 (de
Boor 287, 289), 6095, 6096 and Cameron, Circus Factions, 259. P. Karlin-
Hayter, studies, 7-8, however, punctuates after ‘chanted’, so that the
Greens reply 'As Antlas demanded, I am baptized in one’ and suggests that
Antlas is derived from avrAaci, meaning here 'the one who sucks dry’ and
refers to the emperor. The reply is thus placed in the context of discontent
over taxation at the time of the riots (cf. Joh. Lyd. pe mag. iii. 26) and
Justinian's Monophysite colloquium for which S. P. Brock, Apostolos
Barnabas, 41 (1980), 219, suggests a date of spring 532. Given the allusive
use of T/ayyapeta to refer to Kalopodios, the possibility of further hidden
allusions must be admitted.

‘5 De Boor assumes a lacuna here with the Herald's words, but is not fol-
lowed by Maas, Bury, or Cameron. Tabachovitz, swdien, 51, attributes
‘deity endures everything’ to the Herald.

‘© See Cameron, Cireus Factions, 252 and 320 for this meaning. Others
take it to mean 'government’.

‘7 i.e. on the way to execution.

8 Cameron, Circus Factions, 320-1, draws attention to two references to
the ‘free Blues’ on the last monument of Porphyrios (4nrh. Gr. Xvi. 359. 5,
360. 3) in contrast to the Greens’ complaint of freedom denied.

So C. Diehl, fustinien et ta civilisation byzantine (Paris, 1901), 460.
Others, more literally, translate 'be lifted up’, but that does not yield a clear
sense.

2° Justinian's father.

* We follow MS 'h’. De Boor, following MS'd' has 'reasonably the sixth’.
MSS 'c' and 'y' have 'the murder is beyond what is reasonable’.

* The area along the Golden Horn by the modern Atatiirk bridge, from
which there was a ferry to Sykai (Galata).

3 De Boor does not punctuate here but has a comma after 'woodseller'.

*4 James 1: 13.

*5 'Philosopher’ could mean 'monk' from the 4th cent, onwards. See H.

282

Chronogra phia AM 6024

Hunger in M. Mullett and R. Scott, eds., Byzantium and the — Classical
Tradition, 40-1.

6 Others translate as 'I hate you. I do not want to see you’. That is per-
haps the right meaning but the Greek has TO /niuaj ot! dexw fixeirei, Perhaps
TO jLuctoy should be read 'I do not wish to see hatred (or the hated thing)’, or
possibly TO fiioo, as in Modern Greek, 'I do not wish to see the half of it.’

*7 The curse surprisingly means ‘let them be killed’. Cf. AM 6187; A. D. E.
Cameron, Circus Factions, 322 N. 2.

8 So the MSS and de Boor. J. B. Bury, 2z 6 (1897), 508 followed by
Cameron, Circus Factions, 326, believed this to be a misreading of Mal.'s
dXaaropes ‘avenging spirits’ and so emended. While there can be no doubt
that they are correct about the reading in Theophanes' source, the change is
probably deliberate. Matarixip, derived from Latin magister, usually has the
meaning of 'teacher' in Byzantine Greek but here probably retains the mean-
ing of 'officer' or ‘official’. 'Officials' provides a better link between the cir-
cus dialogue and thefollowingnarrative than does ‘avenging spirits’ (though
aXaoTope; perhaps means no more than '‘wretches'), and is typical of
Theophanes' method of compensation, in this case for his complete omis-
sion of the sacking of Eudaimon (the City prefect), John of Cappadocia (the
praetorian prefect), and Tribonian (the quaestor), which is recorded in all the
main versions of the riot (Mai., chron. Pasch, Prok., Joh. Lyd.|. For a simi-
lar change, compare Theophanes' substitution of 'soldiers' for ‘sycophants’
in Justin II's abdication speech at AM 6070.

*9 On Saturday 10 Jan. See G. Greatrex, jus 117 (1997), n. 41. Theophanes
has simplified Mal.'s version, omitting four rioters (all seven had been found
gudty of murder) who were beheaded.

3° This second attempt is not in Mai.

3} Across the Golden Horn where the executions took place. The church
at Sykai is mentioned in 490 (Mai. 389), but the monastery is surprisingly
not in the lists of 518 or 5 36.

»® Founded by Pulcheria (AM 5945), and the scene four years later for the
synod of 536.

33 The Greek here is obscure. Possibly it should be translated ‘until bail
was granted’.

34 On 13 Jan., after the 22nd race at the Hippodrome. It is at this stage
that the Blues and Greens united with their watchword 'Nika'. See Mai. 474.
This uniting of the factions is essential for following the narrative.
Theophanes' omission of it is best explained, as Bury pointed out (ss 17
(1897), 102) by assuming that Theophanes believed the circus dialogue cov-
ered the same material. This strengthens the argument that the dialogue
was taken from another source.

> Theophanes' list seems to be based on the account of three separate
conflagrations in Chron. Pasch. but with the order of the conflagrations
changed. Theophanes' first group (porticoes . . . palace of Lausos) is Chron.
Pasch.'s last group, which occurred on Saturday 17 Jan., although chron.
Pasch, omits the palace of Lausos but includes the Octagon, St Theodore of
Sphorakios, and other buildings. In general it seems that Theophanes has

283

am 6024 Chronographia

misguidedly attempted to organize the lists of burned buildings into a more
logical order based on his knowledge of the topography. See Bury, JHS 17
(1897), "7-

3© i.e. the Chalke. The places listed in 'h' make up Chion. Pasch.'s first
group (621. 17-622. 6), which is not given a precise date except that it took
place before Friday 16 Jan. Bury, JHS (1897), rrg, suggests Wednesday 14 Jan.

37 The MSS and de Boor read ivarov, ‘ninth’. We accept Bury's emenda-
tion aevarov, based on Chion. Pasch.

38 Probus, a nephew of Anastasios, had already been pardoned by
Justinian once for conspiracy in 528/9 (Mai. 438). The crowd may have
approached him since Anastasios’ other nephews (Hypatios and Pompeius)
were with lustinian in the palace.

3? Chron. Pasch. says the fire at Probus’ house was put out after slight
damage. Theophanes has probably made one of his typical alterations here
rather than used a different source as Bury, JHS 17 (1897), 103 believed.

4° i.e. on Friday r 6th according to Chron. Pasch., which puts together the
burning of the baths of Alexander, the hospice of Sampson, and two build-
ings omitted by Theophanes, namely the hospice of Euboulos and the
church of Holy Peace (St Eirene), perhaps omitted accidentally through
homoioteleuton of ‘hospice’ (so Bury, JHS 17 [1897], 103). Theophanes has
already mentioned St Eirene in his introductory paragraph. Theophanes,
however, includes here the Great Church (Hagia Sophia), which Chron.
Pasch., in identical words, placed in his first list. That list, however, appears
to be lacunose (cf. C. E. Gleye, BZ 6 (1897), 444, Cameron, Circus Factions,
324-5) and Hagia Sophia probably survived a little longer. Cf. AM 6030,
which is consistent with a date of Saturday 17 Jan. for the burning of Hagia
Sophia, which would support Theophanes' placing of Hagia Sophia at the
end of the list.

* Assuming afxtfyorepoi, here has its Byzantine Greek meaning of ‘all’
rather than ‘both’, cf. AM 5951. Chron. Pasch. has 'the tremendous and won-
derful columns at the four corners’.

*” For the uncommon expression eV rtrpaivTov cf. H. Gregoire, Receuil
des inscriptionsgrecques-chretiennes d'AsieMineure, i (Paris, 1922), no. 93:
iKevTrjoev iv Terpaevraj = made a mosaic all round or on all four sides.

* Theophanes is the only source to provide these details, though Prok.
BP i. 24. 32, mentions the deliberations over whether to flee.

“4 On Moundos, cf. AM 6032, where Theophanes ‘introduces’ him, having
redated Mai. but forgetting this earlier reference. Moundos' son was
Maurice. On Konstantiolos, cf. AM 6031, n. 4.

*® Prok. BP i. 24. rg~3r places the proclamation of Hypatios before
Justinian's intention to flee. According to Prok., Justinian sent Hypatios and
his brother Pompeius home from the palace because he suspected them of
plotting against him.

4° MSS (and de Boor) read 'Flakiana' or 'Flaviana’, both seemingly corrupt.
Chron. Pasch. 624. 9-11 states 'then the crowd fetched from the palace of
Placillianai imperial insignia which are kept there’. This palace, to which
also Prok. makes the senator Origenes refer as an alternative base from

284

Chionographia AM 6025

which to conduct the rebellion (g? i. 24. 30), was named after Theodosios'
first wife, Aelia Flacilla, which supports a reading of Flacillianai here.
Alternatively, at 625. 12-15 Chron. Pasch. refers to the arrival ‘from
Constantinianai of 250 young Greens in uniform, thinking they would be
able to break into the palace and take Hypatios in with them’. This obvi-
ously reflects Theophanes' source (with Theophanes' substitution of 'in
armour’, XuipiKaroi for 'in uniform’, and 'armed' (fiopowres, “afias + + °
aaAiCTjueVoi and supports strongly a reading of 'Constantinianai’ here. We
support 'Flacillianai’ since it is closer to the MSS, with Theophanes mud-
dling his abridgement of his source. Both were in the same general area,
being in the tenth and eleventh regions respectively.

The elevation of Hypatios and the suppression of the riot probably took
place on Sunday 18 Jan.

Chron. Pasch. adds Basileides.

48 On Narses' distinguished career see pire iii. 912-28.

49 Cf. Theophanes' introduction to the riot. So also Mai., chron. Pasch.,
and Cramer's £ect His. Prok. has 'more than 30,000' (cf. Mai. at De insia.
30,000); Joh. Lyd. Demag. iii. 70 has 50,000; Zon., 40,000, Zach. Hz, 80,000.

°° i.e. Monday 19 Jan. This is Theophanes' only indication of date in his
account of the riots, which he and Mai. alone preserve.

> Prok. sp i. 24. 58 reports that Justinian later restored to the children of
Hypatios and Pompeius and to the others their titles and whatever was left
of their property. Ant. Gr. vii. 5 92, cf. 591, a funerary epigram for Hypatios,
shows that Justinian pardoned Hypatios posthumously.

» 'The stars are falling’ is not in the surviving text of Mai., who included
various events between the Nika riots and this notice.

* Accepting Tabachovitz's emendation, stdien, 52, of ‘have known’,
oiSa/iev to 'have seen’, eiSafiev, as perhaps Goar intended by his translation
‘conspeximus'.

[am] 6025 [ad 532-/3]

[Year of the divine Incarnation] 525
Justinian, 6thyear

John, bishop of Rome (3 years), 1st year’
Epiphanios, 13th year

Helias, 22nd year

Timothy, 13th year

Ephraim, 6th year

IlIn this year,* Theodora, the most pious Augusta, journeyed to the
hot springs of Pythia? to take the waters. She was accompanied by
the patrician Menas (the prefect),* the patrician Helias, who was
comes largitionum, and other patricians, cubiculaiii, and satraps, a
total of 4,000. She showed much liberality to the churches,I\* poor-
houses, and monasteries.

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Mai. 441. 8-12.

" John II was pope 2 Jan.-8 May 535.

* Mai. dates this ‘at the end of the indiction’, so presumably in late sum-
mer or August. Which indiction is not precisely clear, but probably 7 (so
529), or just possibly 6 (528). In either case Theophanes' date is wrong. It is
perhaps part of Theophanes' attempt to fill in blank years with material
from Mai. which had not been given a precise date.

3 Modern Yalova, on the Gulf of Izmit (Nicomedia), about 140 km. from
Istanbul by land, but much less by sea. It is still one of the most popular spas
in Turkey.

* Menas was holding his second praetorian prefecture by June 528 and
was certainly still in office in Apr. 529. He was presumably succeeded by
Demosthenes who was in office by 17 Sept. 529. So either 528 or 529 will fit
for this expedition. Helias is presumably the praetorian prefect of Illyricum
in 541. We do not have precise information on comites largitionum between
525 and his tenure.

[AM] 6026 [AD 533/4]

[Year of the divine Incarnation] 526
Justinian, 7th year

Chosroes, 9 th year

John, 2nd year

Epiphanios, 14 th year

Helias, 23rd year

Timothy, 14th year

Ephraim, 7th year

uIn this year Priscus, the consul and emperor's ex-notary, earned the
displeasure of the empress Theodora.’ His property was confiscated
and he was ordained deacon of Kyzikos by the emperor's com-
mand. \\*

IlIn the same year* the Vandalic Wars began and Belisarius con-
quered Africa. The Vandals, under their king Godigisklos, as related
for an earlier period,’ took hold of Spain during the rule of Arkadios
and Honorius, and then crossed over from there to Libya, which they
occupied.I \? After the death of Godigisklos,* his sons Gogdaris and
Gizerich succeeded to the throne. After Gogdaris had died,’
Gizerich® was appointed emperor of the Vandals, and ruled the city
of Carthage for 39 years,’ during which he even captured Rome.ll®
On his death his son Onorich,’ succeeded to his empire and caused
much harm to the Christians in Libya, compelling them to become
Arians. He killed many; others had their tongues cut out of their
throats, but by the grace of God they were later able t o speak. But the

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Moors, who felt contempt for the Vandals, made war on them and
did them much harm. Onorich died after eight years’ rule, having
lost Numidia and Mount Aurasion, which were no longer subject to
the Vandals. Goundamoundos, the son of Geezon,”° son of Gizerich,
succeeded to the throne and did greater harm to the Christians. He
died after twelve years of rule.” He was succeeded by Trasa-
moundos,” a handsome, intelligent and magnanimous man. He
forced the Christians to abandon their ancestral faith, not by torture,
but by showing disfavour to those who would not comply. After his
wife had died childless, he took wise counsel and sent a message to
Spain? to Theuderich, emperor of the Goths, requesting to marry
the latter's sister Amalafrida, who was a widow. Theuderich gave
him his sister in marriage, and also sent one thousand reliable Goths
as a bodyguard, with five thousand other fighting men to support
them. Theuderich made a gift to his sister of one of the promonto-
ries of Sicily called Lysion,* and, as a result, Trasamoundos
appeared to be the most powerful and strongest of all who had
reigned among the Libyans. He became the friend of the emperor
Anastasios,lI* and ruled his empire for 27 years. On his death,
Ilderich,”* son of Onorich and grandson of Gizerich, ruled, a gentle
and good man, who was not even harsh towards the Christians. But
he was excessively soft in matters of war and was unwilling even to
hear about the subject. Amergous,” his nephew, a good man in
war—they called him Achilles—was commander-in-chief of the
Vandals. Ilderich was a friend of Justinian before the latter had
become emperor, that is in the days of his uncle Justin, and used to
send him and receive in return large sums of money, strengthening
the friendship. But among Ilderich's relatives, was Gelimer,” a
member of Gizerich's family, a terrible and wicked man, well-versed
in revolution and in taking other people's money. He seized power
from his own lord IIderich, who had ruled for seven years. He
arrested and imprisoned Ilderich and his wife Amalafrida,™
destroyed all the Goths, and held Amer and Amer's brother Euagees
in prison. Emboldened by his usurpation, he was unable to live in
the established manner. I1*'? So he wrote to the emperor Justinian in
defence of his actions, claiming that the empire lawfully belonged to
him and that Ilderich lacked the strength to govern it. u' To which
Justinian replied that he would not recognize this usurpation.
Gelimer, paying no attention to this reply, blinded Amer and locked
up Ilderich and Euagees in a stronger prison. I \°°°

IIThereupon Justinian began a campaign against Libya, having
ended the Persian War,” and recalling Belisarius from the East,
made his plans. The Senate was adverse, recalling the emperor Leo's

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expedition against the Vandals which had been led by Basiliskos and
had been destroyed with severe casualties and waste of much
money.” The Senate now feared the degree of the risk involved
should the emperor choose one [of them] as general of this campaign.
John the patrician came forward and made the following speech:

"We, my lord, obey your commands and do not strive against them.
But it is proper for you to consider the distance involved. There is a
vast expanse of sea, while the journey by land takes 140 days.
[Consider, too,] the uncertainty of victory, the pain of defeat and the
pointlessness of regret.’

The emperor accepted the argument and checked his zeal for war.
But an eastern bishop aroused the emperor again. He claimed to have
received a dream from God commanding him to visit the emperor
and to petition him to release the Christians in Libya from the
usurpers. 'I shall assist him and make him master of Libya.'** At this
stage the emperor was unable to restrain his intentions any longer,
but equipped the army and the ships and got arms and corn ready. He
ordered Belisarius to be prepared to lead a campaign into Libya. At
that moment Pudentius revolted and captured Tripolis. He sent a
request to Justinian for an army to occupy it. Likewise Goddas the
Goth rebelled against his own master Gelimer, captured Sardinia,
and wrote to Justinian to send an army under a general to take the
island. I” Justinian sent out Cyril with 4oo men to support him.
Gelimer sent out a large fleet commanded by his brother with a
picked force of the Vandal army, ' recaptured the island, and killed
Goddas. 11°

Belisarius took control of the army, fleet, and the officers,
namely the general Solomon, Dorotheos of Armenia, Cyprian,
Valerian, Martin, Alphias, John, Marcellus, and Cyril (the one just
mentioned) and many others from Thrace. They were followed by
1,000 Elours,”° commanded by Pharas, and mounted archers of the
Massagetai, who were led by Sisinnios*’ and Balas. There were 500
ships, each having a capacity of 50,000 medimni.** There were
30,000 Sailors, Egyptians, Ionians, and Cilicians. The fleet had a sin-
gle admiral, Kalonymos of Alexandria. There were also go
dromones” for sea battles. The emperor appointed Belisarius as gen-
eral with sole authority over all. Belisarius came from Germania,”
which lies between Thrace and Illyria.1 I’ His wife Antonina travelled
with him. 1

uGelimer sent out his brother Tzatzon with 120 ships and a cho-
sen army to the island of Sardinia against Goddas. 1°

lilt was Justinian's seventh year®’ when Belisarius was sent to the

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Chionographia AM6025

island. The author Prokopios accompanied him. After setting out
from the imperial city, they arrived at Abydos. u° Belisarius took care
that the whole expedition should sail together and anchor in the
same place.I\? After arriving in Sicily he dispatched Prokopios, the
author, to Syracuse, with a view to finding some persons who would
guide him to Libya so as to moor unexpectedly close to the land and
disembark his force which was afraid of a sea battle. Belisarius him-
self set out with the fleet and made his base at Kaukana,® two hun-
dred stades from Syracuse. Prokopios entered Syracuse and bought
supplies from Amalasuntha, Theuderich's wife and mother of
Atalarich, emperor of Italy. They had [a pact of] friendship with
Justinian. He unexpectedly met a childhood friend, who had experi-
ence of both Libya and the sea (in fact it was only the third day since
his return from Carthage) and who affirmed that the Vandals were so
blissfully ignorant and so untroubled by the thought of anyone
attacking them that Gelimer had camped four days’ journey from
the sea. Prokopios took him and brought him to Belisarius at
Kaukana. On being informed of these things, Belisarius on the third
day anchored off the coast of Libya by a place called Shoal's
Head.IK™* After disembarking and building a rampart and a deep
ditch, they made camp there in a single day.

At that spot the earth produced a great supply of water in the hole
where the ditch was being dug, and so provided all the needs of the
army and the animals in an otherwise waterless stretch of ground.
On the following day the army went out to collect booty. The gen-
eral rebuked them saying: 'It is wrong to use violence and to feed
yourselves on another's property at any time and particularly when
in danger. I allowed you to disembark in this land trusting in one
thing alone, namely that by justice and good deeds we would serve
God and win the Libyans to our side. But your lack of self-control
will bring about the reverse for us, and will cause the Libyans to ally
themselves with the Vandals. Take my advice. Obtain your food by
buying it. Then you will not appear unjust, nor will you change the
[present] Libyan friendship to enmity, and you will set God at rest.
Stop these assaults on what belongs to others, and shake off a profit
filled with danger.’ Belisarius then dispatched the army to the city of
Syllektos* and captured it without trouble. For having reached it at
night, they entered along with the peasants, who were bringing in
their waggons, and took the city. When day broke, they took the
priest and the leading citizens of the place, and sent them to the
general. On the same day, the administrator of the cuisus publicus
deserted and delivered the public horses. Also the courier who deliv-
ered the king's messages was captured. II’

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191

19°

AM6024 Chronographia

IBelisarius put the army in order and marched towards Carthage.
He put John the Armenian in charge of 300 picked troops with an
order to follow the main army at all times and not to be far away.
Having arrived at the city of Syllektos, he gained the inhabitants’
friendship by goodness and kind words so that the remainder made
the journey as if they were in their own country, with [the local pop-
ulation] neither retreating, nor hiding themselves, but providing a
market and assisting the soldiers in other ways. Covering 80 stades
each day,*° they reached Carthage. So by way of the city of Leptis
and Adramouton?’ they reached a place called Chrasis,** 308
stades®® from Carthage, where the Vandals had a palace with beau-
tiful parks, clear springs, and unlimited quantities of all kinds of
fruit. So each of the soldiers pitched his tent in the orchards and they
all enjoyed the ripe fruit, without any apparent reduction in its quan-
tity.

When Gelimer heard that the Romans were near by, he wrote to
his brother Amatas in Carthage that he should kill Ilderich and all
his other relatives who were in prison and should arm himself and
the Vandals for war and anyone else in the city capable of fighting.
Amatas carried out these instructions. Belisarius sent a message to
Archelaos, the second-in-command,*° and Kalonymos the admiral
to approach Carthage but not to attack it until he gave the order. He
himself went to Decimum”* which is 70 stades from Carthage.

Gelimer ordered his nephew Kibamoundos* to advance with
2,000 men on the left side, so that with Amatas coming from
Carthage, Gelimer from the rear, and Kibamoundos from the coun-
try on the left, they would encircle the enemy in one place.
Belisarius for his part ordered John, as I have already mentioned, to
go ahead and the Massagetai to advance on the left of the army.
Amatas, however, did not arrive at the required time, but left the
main force of Vandals in Carthage and came as quickly as he could
to Decimum with a small force, and these not even the best. He
encountered John, came to blows, and was killed by John. Those
with him turned in headlong flight and swept back all those going
from Carthage to Decimum, thinking that their pursuers were very
numerous. John and his band killed so many on their way up to the
gates of Carthage that those who saw it would have conjectured that
this was the work of 20,000.

Kibamoundos with his 2,000 encountered the might of the Huns,
and all were killed. a Belisarius, who was at Decimum, learned
nothing of this, but surrounded the place with a rampart and
encamped there. He left his wife and the infantry there, and set out
with the cavalry and the officers to Carthage. Finding the fallen bod-

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Chronogra phia AM6024

ies of Amatas and the Vandals, and so learning what had happened,
he went up on a hill and saw dust rising from the south and a great
mass of Vandal cavalry led by Gelimer, who was unaware of the fate
of either Kibamoundos or Amatas. When they came near each other,
the vanguard of the Vandals captured the hill and were terrible to the
enemy. The Romans were routed and fled to a place seven stades
from Decimum, but God* unexpectedly wrought a change in the
Vandals and made them cowards. For if they had made the pursuit
immediately, they would have completely wiped out all of
Belisarius' men (so great was the force of the Vandals) and would
have caught John without effort on his way back from Carthage
while stripping the corpses. But Gelimer, after coming down from
the hill, and finding his brother's corpse, turned to lamentation and
blunted the edge of his victory. Belisarius ordered his fugitives to
hold their ground, got them all into proper order, rebuked them for
their cowardice, and learning simultaneously of the death of his
opponents and of John's victory, bravely advanced at the double
against Gelimer. The barbarians, being caught unprepared, turned in
headlong flight and suffered many losses as they made for Numidia
and deserted Carthage. After night had fallen, Belisarius, John, and
the Massagetai reached Decimum, learned all that had happened,
and rejoiced.**

On the following day, they all proceeded to Carthage including the
infantry and Belisarius' wife. The Carthaginians opened the gates, lit
their lamps, and came in a throng to meet Belisarius. But the
Vandals who were there sought refuge in the churches. When the
fleet arrived, the citizens removed the chain and received the fleet
into the harbour. ' The greater part of the fleet, however, heeding
Belisarius’ order, did not enter the harbour but anchored outside. But
Kalonymos, acting in disobedience, did enter, plundered the vessels
there, and seized much money. He also entered shops and houses
near the harbour and took numerous prisoners.

Belisarius, after gaining control of Carthage without toil, exhorted
his soldiers with the following speech: "You see how much good
fortune came to us when we showed moderation towards the
Libyans. Make sure you maintain that good behaviour in Carthage.
Let no one wrong any man, or steal anything from him. Seeing that
they have suffered many evils at the hands of the barbarian Vandals,
our emperor has sent us to help them and to bestow freedom on
them.' Having exhorted them thus, he entered Carthage. And having
gone up to the palace, he sat down on Gelimer's throne. Thereupon
the Carthaginian merchants and those who lived by the sea came up
to him, complaining of the robbery they had suffered at the hands of

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194

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the fleet. Belisarius made Kalonymos the admiral swear that he
would bring out all that had been stolen, and give it back to the right-
ful owners. But Kalonymos appropriated a part to himself and, hav-
ing sworn falsely, payed the penalty not much later. For he went out
of his mind, bit off his tongue, and died.

Belisarius entertained the people royally at a banquet at which
Gelimer's servants served and poured the wine and waited upon
them in every other way. So marked was the absence of violence
when the general took the city that he inflicted no insults on anyone,
and no one in the market locked up his house. Instead, the soldiers
shopped, ate, and enjoyed themselves. Belisarius gave assurances to
the Vandal fugitives in the churches and brought them out. He then
turned his attention to the city walls which earlier had been
neglected. It was reported that long ago it had been said in Carthage
that gamma would drive out beta (and in return beta would drive out
gamma).* This was now accomplished. For earlier Gizerich had dri-
ven out Boniface, and now Belisarius drove out Gelimcr.II"

llGelimer gave out much money to the Libyan peasants and won
them over to his side. He ordered them to kill any Romans who
remained in the country. When the peasants did this, Belisarius
learnt of it and sent out Diogenes, one of his bodyguard, to punish
the peasants. Diogenes and his men went to a house and slept there
without taking any precautions against attack. Gelimer heard of
this, selected 300 troops, and sent them against him. They arrived,
surrounded the house, but were afraid to go in during the night. The
Romans perceived this, got up, armed themselves, mounted their
horses, and, all twenty of them,*” suddenly burst open the doors.
Defending themselves with their shields and using their spears they
routed their opponents. I 1”

IlGelimer, who was in Numidia, brought all the Vandals together
plus any supporters he had among the Moors, and made ready for
war. He sent a letter to his brother Tzatzon in Sardinia, announcing
what had happened to him. Tzatzon set out from Sardinia immedi-
ately with the entire force, reached the coast of Libya on the third
day and got to Gelimer. The two embraced one another round the
neck and, without speaking, clutched each other's hands and wept.
The army lamented the disaster in similar fashion. Gelimer, taking
everyone along, set out for Carthage and tried to besiege it, thinking
that those inside would betray the city to him, as would also any of
the Roman soldiers who followed the doctrines of Arius.** He sent
messages to the leaders of the Huns and promised to give them many
fine things, if they would betray the Romans to him. Belisarius
learned about this from deserters, and having found a certain traitor

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Chronogra phia AM6024

called Laurentius*? in Carthage, he had him impaled on a hill in
front of the city, and as a result, those contemplating treachery grew
very scared, so that the Massagetai confessed what they had been
told by Gelimer. When Belisarius had won them all back to his side
by persuasion and oaths, he immediately ordered John the Armenian
to take all the cavalry except 500 and set out to skirmish with the
Vandals. On the following day Belisarius followed with the infantry
and the 500 cavalry. He came upon the Vandals encamped at
Trikamaron* and they stayed near each other throughout the night.
A prodigy happened in the Roman army, for the tips of their spears
shone with a great fire. They looked at this and were amazed. At day-
break both sides armed and rushed into battle. John selected a few of
his men, crossed the river and attacked the Vandals. Tzatzon pushed
him back and gave chase with his Vandals as far as the river but John,
taking most of Belisarius' bodyguard, flung himself against Tzatzon
with a shout and a loud noise. Then a fierce battle took place.
Tzatzon, Gelimer's brother, fell. Next the whole Roman army
crossed the river and advanced towards the enemy, whom they
routed and pursued as far as their camp. On their return they
stripped the bodies, especially of those who were wearing gold, and
went back to their own camp. The casualties of this battle were 50
Roman dead as against 800 Vandals. Belisarius arrived late in the
evening with the infantry and then, setting out as quickly as he
could with the entire army, made for the Vandals’ camp. When
Gelimer realized that Belisarius was there with the infantry and the
entire army, he mounted his horse and, without making any dispo-
sition, fled terrified to Numidia with a few of his relatives and ser-
vants. When the Vandals realized that he had fled and the enemy
were already in sight, then the men, women, and children began to
yell and wail. They took no care of their moneys or their grieving
loved ones but each fled as best he could. The Romans arrived, took
the camp and spent the whole night in pursuit. The men whom they
came upon they killed, and took prisoner the women and children
and found a greater mass of money than had ever before been gath-
ered in one place. For after plundering the Roman Empire, the
Vandals had transferred much money to Libya; and as the land itself
was good and fertile there had been considerable revenue for them.
The Vandals had ruled Libya for 95 years,® and gathered great
wealth, but on that day all this wealth returned to the hands of the
Romans, for in the three months that Belisarius had fought (from
October to the end of December), he had subjugated all Libya.IK

HHe dispatched John the Armenian with 200 picked men to pur-
sue Gelimer till he caught him, dead or alive. He overtook Gelimer

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and would have captured him, if the following event had not
occurred. Accompanying John was a certain Ouliaris, one of
Belisarius' bodyguard. This man, being drunk on wine, saw a bird sit-
ting on a tree, drew his bow and shot at it. He missed the bird, but
struck John in the back of the neck. He was mortally wounded and
so died, a loss sadly mourned by the emperor Justinian, by Belisarius,
and by all Romans and Carthaginians. Thus Gelimer got away on
that day and made for the territory of the Moors. Belisarius pursued
him and blockaded him on Mount Pappua” in the furthest parts of
Numidia. He invested the mountain throughout the winter,
[Gelimer] lacking all supplies: ** for the Moors bake no bread, nor
do they have wine, or oil** but, like senseless® animals, they eat
uncooked barley and grain. Having fallen into these circumstances,
Gelimer wrote®’ to Pharas, whom Belisarius had left to guard him,
asking that a lyre, a loaf of bread, and a sponge be sent to him. Pharas
was confused about what this could mean, until the messenger
explained that Gelimer desired to gaze at the bread, not having seen
bread since his ascent; that he wanted a sponge because his eyes
were suffering from being unbathed—so that he might soothe them
with a sponge; the lyre because he was a good lyre-player, so that he
might mourn and weep over his present misfortune to the accompa-
niment of a lyre. Pharas, having heard this, was greatly pained and
grieved about man's lot, acted according to the message and sent all
that Gelimer sought. When winter had passed, Gelimer, fearing the
Roman siege and pitying his relatives’ children, who had bred worms
in their distress, was weakened in his intent and wrote to Pharas,
that after receiving pledges, he and his companions would surrender
to Belisarius. Pharas gave him sworn assurances, then, taking all of
them, came to Carthage. Belisarius received him with great joy, but
Gelimer laughed as he approached Belisarius. Some suspected that,
because of the extent of his suffering, he had departed from normal
behaviour and had lost his wits. But his friends’ view was that the
man's wits were still sharp enough and that he had taken stock of
the fact that he, an emperor descended from emperors, who had pos-
sessed great power and wealth, had suddenly had to flee and had suf-
fered such hardship on Mount Pappua, and now had come as a
captive, and that, as a result, he felt that man's lot warranted noth-
ing else than much laughter. Belisarius treated his captive and all the
other Vandal leaders with honour, so that he could bring them to the
emperor Justinian in Byzantium.I1” Straight away Belisarius sent
Cyril with Tzatzon's head to Sardinia (formerly called Kyrnos),*’
which he made subject to the Romans.

He dispatched another John to Caesarea®® in Mauritania, which is

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Chronogra phia AM 6024

30 days' journey from Carthage and lies on the way to Cadiz and the
setting of the sun, and another John, one of his bodyguard, he sent to
the strait near Cadiz, by one of the pillars of Heracles, to take pos-
session of the fort there which they call Septon.® And to the islands
which are near the strait where the Ocean flows in, Majorica and
Minorica, he sent Apolinarios, a man excellent in wars. He sent
some Libyans to Sicily and ordered them to capture the Vandal fort.
The Goths who were guarding it reported this to Atalarich's mother.
She wrote to Belisarius not to take the fort arbitrarily until the
emperor Justinian had been informed and made his decision. I 1’ On
this the Vandalic war ended.

But envy, which is wont to arise in great good fortune, stung even
Belisarius. Some slandered him to the emperor of plotting to usurp
power. The emperor sent out Solomon to test Belisarius' views, with
the choice that either he return to Byzantium with Gelimer and the
Vandals, or else stay where he was but send them here. Belisarius was
not unaware that some officers were accusing him of usurpation.
So he went to Byzantium and left Solomon as general of Libya.ll*" On
reaching Byzantium with Gelimer and the Vandals, Belisarius was
considered worthy of great honours such as in older times Roman
generals had been awarded for their greatest victories. No one had
achieved this great distinction for 600 years apart from Titus, Trajan,
and other emperors who had fought and conquered the barbarian
races.” He displayed the spoils and captives from the war in the
midst of the city and led a procession, which the Romans call a tri-
umph, not, however, in the ancient manner, but going on foot from
his own house to the Hippodrome. There were the spoils, such as are
customarily set aside as suitable for the rank of the emperor: golden
thrones, and carriages in which the wives of emperors ride, a mass of
jewelry made of precious stones, golden cups, and all the other things
which are used for the royal table. There was silver weighing many
thousands of talents and all kinds of royal treasure, which Gizerich
had taken when he plundered the palace in Rome. Among these were
the Jewish treasures, which Titus, son of Vespasian, had brought to
Rome after the capture of Jerusalem.” There were prisoners in the
triumph, among them Gelimer himself wearing some purple gar-
ment on his shoulder, and all his relatives, and those Vandals who
were very tall and had a fine physique. When Gelimer reached the
Hippodrome and saw the emperor sitting on his seat and the people
standing on either side, he could not stop saying and shouting out,
'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity'.°? When he had come before the
emperor's seat, they stripped off his purple garment and compelled
him to fall prone on the ground and do obeisance to the emperor.

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The emperor and the Augusta presented the children and grand-
children of Ilderich and all the relatives of the emperor Valentinian
with large sums of money, and granted extensive and pleasant
estates in Galatia to Gelimer where he could live with all his fam-
ily. But they did not promote him to the rank of patrician since he
refused to change from the faith of Arius.

After the triumph Belisarius distributed consular largess® and the
people of Byzantium enjoyed a great deal of the money from his vic-
tory, more than ever before.I\"*°

u While Solomon governed Libya the Moors went to war against
the Libyans. The Moors are descended from those races that Joshua
the son of Nun had driven out of Phoenicia, where they had dwelt,
between Sidon and Egypt. On reaching Egypt, but not being wel-
comed there, they made for Libya, and settled on its borders. Later
the Roman emperors conquered the area and called it Tigisis.°’ They
set up two columns of white stone by the great spring, inscribed in
the Phoenician script with the following: 'We are those who fled
from before the face of Joshua, the robber, the son of Nun.’ There
were other races in Libya earlier, native ones who had an emperor
called Asklepios,* the one who wrestled with Herakles at Klipea
and who they claimed was the son of Earth.’ It was they who founded
Carthage.

u Solomon took the army from Carthage and marched against the
Moors. He went to Byzakion® to a place called Ramma,”° where the
Moors had camped by making a circle of camels and placing their
women and children inside the circle. When the Moors came out
against him, Solomon dismounted, and leading 500” selected sol-
diers, ordered them to attack one section of the circle and kill the
camels. After killing about 200, he rushed into the centre of the cir-
cle, where the women were seated. The terrified barbarians fled to
the mountain in utter disorder. 10,000 Moors were killed on that
day. All the women and children were taken as slaves. Taking them
together with the camels and all the booty, they returned to
Carthage, and celebrated a feast of victory.“ But the barbarians
gathered together again in full force, including women and children
(they left no one behind), marched against the Romans and began
plundering the villages of Byzakion. Solomon quickly set out and led
the whole army against them. He reached Burgarion,” where the
enemy had camped, and drew up the army for battle. The Moors
stayed for the most part in the mountain of the Burgari, having no
desire to descend into the plain. Solomon sent out Theodore at night
with 1,000 infantry and some of the standards, with the aim of
climbing the mountain from behind the Moors during the night, and

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as soon as the sun rose, they were to raise the standards high and
move against the enemy. Likewise Solomon himself made the
ascent at the crack of dawn and moved against the enemy. The bar-
barians, seeing that they were in the middle of the Romans, began to
flee, and hurling themselves from cliffs destroyed themselves. In the
battle 5 0,000 Moors perished but not a single Roman died or suffered
a wound, but all gained a victory unscathed. Most of their rulers
joined the Romans.” So great was the number of women and chil-
dren taken by the Romans that they would sell a Moorish boy for the
price of a sheep to anyone who wanted to buy one. It was then that
the ancient saying of a female seer was fulfilled for the Moors, that
most of them would perish at the hands of a beardless man.|I® For
Solomon had been a eunuch since childhood, not deliberately, but
having lost his genitals through illness. 11 *’* He took all the booty
and returned to Carthage.1

n At this time, a portent occurred in the sky. For a whole year the
sun shone darkly, without rays, like the moon. Mostly it looked as
if it was eclipsed, not shining clearly as was normal.” It was the
tenth year of Justinian's rule.”° In this time neither war nor death
stopped weighing upon men.

At the beginning of spring Belisarius was sent by Justinian to
Sicily to make it tributary to the Romans. After he had wintered in
Sicily,I \b when the festival of Easter had arrived,” the Romans in
Libya mutinied against Solomon in the following manner.” Having
taken the wives of the slain Vandals, they laid claim to the lands as
their own and refused to pay taxes to the emperor for them. Solomon
exhorted them not to rebel against the emperor, but to hand over the
appointed sums to him. Some of them, especially among the
Goths,’”? succumbed to the Arian faith, and were excluded from
church by the priests, who even refused to baptize their children. As
a result a rebellion occurred during the [Easter] festival. The soldiers
plotted to kill Solomon in the church. After leaving the city, they
plundered its lands and treated the Libyans as enemies. Solomon
heard this and amid considerable uproar attempted to persuade the
soldiers to see reason and to end their rebellion. But they gathered
and began insulting Solomon and the officers shamelessly. They
went to the palace and elected Theodore the Cappadocian as their
general, then taking up arms they set about killing anyone they
encountered who was known to be friendly to Solomon, whether
Roman or Libyan, stole money, broke into houses, and looted all the
valuables. Solomon escaped by fleeing to the palace church. When
night fell, he left the palace with the author Prokopios and Martin,*°
embarked in a ship and went to Belisarius at Syracuse in Sicily, after

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leaving instructions for Theodore™ to take care of Carthage and the
imperial possessions. The soldiers gathered in the plain of Boule,*
chose as their tyrant Martin's bodyguard Stotzas, a passionate and
energetic man, with the purpose of driving out the emperor's officers
and taking control of Libya.

When Stotzas came close to Carthage, he sent a command to
Theodore to hand over the city to him immediately so as to avoid
harm. But Theodore and the Carthaginians agreed to defend
Carthage for the emperor. Stotzas thereupon set about besieging the
city. Belisarius selected a hundred men from his bodyguard and
shield-bearers, whom Solomon put on board a single ship and sailed
into Carthage as darkness fell. When day broke, the usurper and the
soldiers turned and fled in disgraceful confusion at the news of
Belisarius’ arrival. Belisarius collected about 2,000 of the army, pur-
sued the fugitives and caught up with them at the city of
Membresa.* Seeing that they had left their ranks and were going
around in complete disorder, Belisarius moved down on all of them.
They turned and fled and, when they reached Numidia, regathered.
Few died in this battle, and most of them were Vandals. Belisarius
spared the Romans, but plundered their camp, found a great quantity
of money and the women on whose account the war had taken place.
With this accomplished, Belisarius returned to Carthage. Then a
report came from Sicily that a rebellion had broken out in the camp
and was about to throw everything into confusion unless he
returned there quickly. So after arranging matters in Libya as best he
could and entrusting Carthage to Ildiger and Theodore, he went to
Sicily! I"

uAt this news* Justinian sent to Libya his nephew Germanus, a
patrician, with Domnicus and Symmachos, learned men,” and a
small force. On reaching Carthage, Germanus made a count of the
soldiers there, and after examining the books of the scribes, in which
the soldiers’ names were registered, he discovered that a third of the
army in Carthage and the other cities was loyal to the emperor, but
all the rest were arrayed with the usurper. Because of this he did not
march out to battle, but took care of his army. He kept on announc-
ing that he had been sent by the emperor to defend the soldiers who
had been wronged, and to punish those who had been responsible for
the wrong done to them. The soldiers who heard these statements
gradually came over to him. Germanus received them with great
friendliness, gave them assurances, treated them with respect, and
paid them their wages. When word of this was spread about and
reached everyone, they deserted the usurper and came to Carthage.
Stotzas, already aware of the harm, encouraged those who remained,

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and marched against Carthage. Germanus armed his forces and
moved against him. Their obvious eagerness to show their loyalty to
the emperor persuaded the general. When the forces under Stotzas
saw them, they were overcome with cowardice and retreated to
Numidia. Germanus came there with the whole army not much
later. When he caught up with them,” he discovered that thousands
upon thousands of barbarian Moors had joined them—people ruled
by Iaudas and Ortaias. They clashed and a violent battle ensued dur-
ing which one of the enemy killed Germanus' horse. Germanus fell
to the ground and would have been in great danger had not his body-
guards quickly surrounded him, brought him a horse, and helped
him remount. So the soldiers were routed and Stotzas in this confu-
sion was able to get away with a few men. Germanus immediately
exhorted those around him to rush at the enemy's camp, which he
gained by fighting. There the soldiers began seizing the money with-
out reason and took no notice of the general. Germanus, in fear that
the enemy would take joint counsel and attack him, stood mourn-
fully, urging them to return to good order. But the Moors, having
seen the rout, rushed out against the mutineers and pursued them
jointly with the imperial army. Stotzas, who had placed his confi-
dence in them and now saw what was being done by them, fled with
a hundred men and reached inner Mauritania. So the revolt ended. 1"

lIThe emperor, after recalling Germanus along with Domnicus
and Symmachos to Byzantium, again put Solomon in charge of
Libya's affairs (it was the thirteenth year of Justinian's rule),-’ and
assigned to him, among other officers, Rufinus, Leontios, and John,
son of Sisinnios.®® Solomon, after sailing to Carthage, ruled the
people fairly and made Libya secure, keeping the army in good order.
Anyone under suspicion was sent to Byzantium. 11“

u Belisarius,®® after regaining Sicily and Rome, which had been
held by Vittius, and the neighbouring cities, brought Vittius to
Justinian in Byzantium along with the man's wife and children. The
emperor dispatched Narses”® the chamberlain with a fleet to Rome
to maintain control of those parts. 0"

uSolomon, once the administration of Carthage and Libya was
running smoothly, began a campaign against the Moors. First he sent
out a force under Gontharis his bodyguard, an able warrior. He
reached the river Bigas” and set up camp at Baugain,”’ a deserted
city. There he was defeated in battle, and after returning to his stock-
ade, was being hard pressed by the Moors’ siege. Solomon, who was
close by, learned of this and came quickly. The barbarians retreated
in fear and camped at the foot of Mount Aurasion. Solomon clashed
with them and routed them. The Moors fled into the more difficult

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parts of the mountain and got away to Mauritania. Solomon plun-
dered the plains of Mougade,” fired all their land, carried off a great
deal of corn, and returned to the fort at Zerboule.** There Iaudas had
fled with 20,000 Moors. Iaudas, after leaving the fort, ascended to the
heights of Mount Aurasion and kept his peace. Solomon captured
the fort of Zerboule after three days’ siege, plundered all its contents,
established a garrison there, and marched on.II""" He began looking
for a spot from where it would be possible to reach the summit of the
mountain, which was precipitous and posed great difficulty. But
God provided a way out of this impasse, as follows. One of the sol-
diers among the infantry, who was an optio,°* named Genzon, either
in anger or moved by some divine impulse, began climbing towards
the enemy on his own. Some of his fellow-soldiers, greatly amazed
at what was happening, began following behind him. Three of the
Moors who had been appointed to guard the entrance saw the man
and raced to meet him, thinking that he was climbing to attack
them. But he met them separately because of the narrowness of the
path, so he dispatched the first one and then the second and the third
in the same way. Seeing this, those behind moved against the enemy
with a great deal of noise and uproar. The Roman army heard and
saw what was happening, and not waiting for the general or the
trumpets, nor keeping any order, but making a great hubbub and
encouraging one another, raced towards the enemy camp.
Thereupon Rufinus and Leontios performed deeds of outstanding
valour against the enemy. The barbarians immediately fled as best
each could. Iaudas, wounded in the thigh by a javelin, got away and
retreated to Mauritania. The Romans, after plundering the enemy
camp, no longer left Mount Aurasion, but built forts and are contin-
uing to guard it.°° There was one extremely precipitous rock, on
which the Moors had built a tower and made this a secure place of
refuge, strong and unassailable. There Iaudas happened to have
placed his money and his women, appointing an old man as guard of
the money. For he could not have suspected that the enemy would
come to this tower or be able to take it by force. But the Romans,
while exploring the harsh territory of Aurasion, came there. One of
them attempted to climb the tower for fun. The women began
mocking him and so, too, did the old man. But when the Roman,
using his hands and feet to climb, came quite close, he drew his
sword, drove it hard, got the old man in the neck, and cut off his
head. The soldiers, by now confident, climbed the tower holding on
to each other. They took the women and the great quantities of
money that were there and brought them to Solomon. Solomon built
walls round the Libyan cities,” and since the Moors had retreated

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from Numidia in defeat, he made the land of Zabe®® and Mauritania
and its metropolis Itiphis" a tributary province of the Romans. For
Caesarea is the first metropolis of the other Mauritania, which
Belisarius had earlier made subject. So all the Libyans became sub-
jects of Rome and enjoyed secure peace.|\""

nu After four years of this peace, in Justinian's 17th year,’’° Kyros
and Sergius, the sons of Bakchos, the brother of Solomon, were dis-
patched by the emperor to rule in Libya, Kyros as governor of
Pentapolis,'” Sergius of Tripolis.’°* The Moors sent their elders to
Sergius at the city of Leptis Magna to offer him gifts and confirm the
peace. But Sergius, on the advice of Pudentius, a citizen of Tripolis,
received eighty of the more trustworthy barbarians in the city,
promising to fulfil all they sought, and he confirmed the peace by
oaths. The others he expelled to a suburb. The former he invited to
a meal and killed all of them, except one who slipped away unno-
ticed and reported these events to his tribesmen. At this they raced
to their own camp and joined with all the others to attack the
Romans. Sergius and Pudentius met them and when battle was
joined, Pudentius was killed after losing many men while Sergius,
stricken with fright beyond description, sailed to Carthage’®? to his
uncle Solomon. 1°

The Moors deserted all Tripolis.’°* After plundering all the coun-
try there and enslaving a mass of Romans, the barbarians went to
Pentapolis. On hearing of this, Kyros fled to Carthage by sea. The
barbarians—there was no one to oppose them—took the city of
Veronica,’ marched on Carthage I land, on reaching Byzakion plun-
dered many villages during their invasion of those parts. Antalas, an
enemy of Solomon, who had killed his brother, joined the barbarians
and led them against Carthage and Solomon. Solomon heard of this,
collected the army, and moved against them. He camped at the city
of Beste,’°° six days’ journey from Carthage. Kyros, Sergius, and
young Solomon, the children of Bakchos were with him. Seeing the
number of barbarians, he took fright and sent a message to their lead-
ers castigating them for taking up arms against the Romans, to
whom they were bound by treaty, and requesting that the peace be
secured and confirmed by oaths. The barbarians, mocking his words,
replied, ‘Sergius took an oath on the Gospels’®” and kept it splen-
didly by killing eighty men. How should we now trust your oaths?’
Battle was joined and the Romans were routed. Solomon's horse
stumbled and he was killed as were his bodyguards. n°

u Sergius, his nephew, was entrusted with the rule of Libya by the
emperor. John, son of Sisinniolos, and the other officers developed a
great hatred for Sergius, so that none wanted to take up arms against

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the enemy, and the barbarians plundered all without fear. Antalas
wrote to the emperor Justinian saying, 'All the Moors choose to be
your friends and servants, but, unable to endure the persecution of
Solomon and his nephews, have rebelled. Recall these men and
peace will be established between Romans and Moors.’ The emperor
refused to do this. Antalas and the army of the Moors gathered again
in Byzakion. With them was Stotzas commanding a few soldiers and
Vandals. The Libyans exhorted John, son of Sisinniolos, to raise an
army and march against the enemy with Himerios, the officer com-
manding the detachment in Byzakion. He took the army and
marched against the enemy, ordering Himerios to go ahead.’ In the
clash the Romans were defeated. The barbarians captured Himerios
alive with his army, imprisoned him, and handed over the soldiers
to Stotzas after they agreed to campaign against the Romans. They
then took the city of Adramyton’? by craft"® because of
Himerios. 10

llSome of the Libyans fled to Sicily, some to other islands and to
Byzantium, while the Moors and Stotzas plundered all Libya with
complete freedom. The Libyans who had come to Byzantium begged
the emperor to send an army and his best general to Libya. The
emperor sent Areobindos™ with a few soldiers. He was well-born
and prudent, but quite unskilled in military matters. With him went
Athanasios and a few Armenians, led by the Arsacids’* Artabanes
and John. The emperor did not even recall Sergius, but ordered him
to join with Areobindos as generals of Libya. Sergius was to wage
war against the barbarians in Numidia, while Areobindos was to
fight the Moors in Byzakion. Areobindos reached Libya and, taking
half the army, sent out John, son of Konstantiolos,’* against Stotzas
and the barbarians. When John had seen the vast numbers of the
enemy, he was compelled to come to grips with them. He and
Stotzas hated each other so much that each prayed he would slay the
other and so die. In the battle’ both left their camps and went for
each other. John drew his bow and hit Stotzas on the right side of the
groin. Stotzas died a few days later. But the barbarians advanced on
the enemy with great fury and, having unlimited numbers, killed
John and all the Romans. John is reported to have said, 'I die a happy
death with my prayer against Stotzas answered.’ When Stotzas
learned of John's death he, too, died joyfully. John the Armenian was
also killed. This news grieved the emperor considerably. He dis-
missed Sergius from office and recalled him,’ entrusting the rule of
Libya to Areobindos alone. 11"

IITwo months later a certain Gontharis,"° leader of the detach-
ments in Numidia, devised a strategem against Areobindos and

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secretly sent a message to the Moors that they should march on
Carthage. So straight away the enemies’ army from both Numidia
and Byzakion gathered in one place and eagerly moved towards
Carthage. Koutzinas and Jaudas led the Numidians, Antalas those
from Byzakion.The usurper John (in the place of Stotzas) joined them
with his soldiers. On being informed of this, Areobindos, trusting in
Gontharis' loyalty, delivered the army to him and sent him out
together with Artabanes and the Armenians against the enemy.
Gontharis sent his own cook, a Moor, to the barbarians to tell
Antalas that Gontharis wanted to share the rule of Libya with him.
Antalas heard the message with pleasure but replied that such mat-
ters could not be managed safely through a cook. So Gontharis sent
to Antalas his trusted bodyguard Oulitheos with the request that
Antalas should come close to Carthage, so that he himself could kill
Areobindos. Oulitheos met Antalas secretly and they agreed that
Antalas should rule Byzakion and take half of Areobindos' money
plus 1,500 Roman soldiers, while Gontharis should take the title of
emperor and control Carthage. After accomplishing this, Oulitheos
returned to Gontharis. The barbarians, for their part, marched with
great zeal towards Carthage. They arrived at Decimum,"’ camped
there and next day moved against Carthage. But some men of the
Roman army met them unexpectedly, attacked them, and killed
many of the Moors. Gontharis rebuked them for their boldness
claiming that they were endangering the Roman state. But
Areobindos sent a message to Koutzinas calling on him to betray the
Moors and he agreed to do this. For the race of the Moors is faithless
both to one another and to everybody else. Areobindos revealed this
to Gontharis who told Areobindos not to trust Koutzinas, and
meanwhile sent Oulitheos to tell Antalas. Gontharis was plotting to
kill Areobindos secretly and persuaded him to leave Carthage and
take part in the battle. But Areobindos, being inexperienced in war,
delayed, because he was unable to put on his armour. As it was get-
ting late, he postponed marshalling the troops till next day and went
to rest. Gontharis suspected that Areobindos had purposely delayed
because he knew what was happening, so he rebelled openly. I 1*

un Areobindos quickly left Carthage and fled, embarked on a ship
and was about to sail to Byzantium, had not a storm sprung up in the
meantime and prevented him. After dispatching Athanasios to
Carthage, he summoned a number of men. Among these was
Artabanes, who exhorted Areobindos at length neither to lose heart
nor to be a coward and fear Gontharis, but to march against him
with all his followers, before anything worse happened. Meanwhile
Gontharis slandered Areobindos to the troops, claiming that he was

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cowardly and timid and refused to give them their pay. Areobindos
with Artabanes and his followers moved against Gontharis. The bat-
tle took place on the battlements and by the gates. Most of the sol-
diers did not know Gontharis' intentions and gathered to take up
arms against him. But when Areobindos saw men being killed,
unused as he was to such a sight; he could not overcome his cow-
ardice and fled to the monastery near the sea, which Solomon had
built and fortified as a secure fort. He sought refuge there with his
wife and sister. Artabanes also then fled. So Gontharis, having won
by force, took the palace. He summoned the city's bishop and
Athanasios and ordered them to give assurances to Areobindos and
bring him to the palace, threatening to besiege him ifhe did not obey
and to withdraw his guarantees of safe conduct. Areobindos
accepted the assurances from the bishop Reparatus, came to see
Gontharis, and prostrated himself as a suppliant, holding out the
gospels on- which the priest had given him the assurances. Gontharis
made him stand up, swore in everyone's presence that he would not
harm him, indeed would send him with his wife and his moneys to
Byzantium on the following day. After dismissing the priest, he took
Areobindos and Athanasios to dine with him in the palace. He hon-
oured Areobindos and made him recline on the first couch there, and
after dinner, ordered him to sleep in a bedroom. He then sent
Oulitheos with some others who killed him as he shrieked and
groaned."® He spared Athanasios because of his age.II"

uOn the following day Gontharis sent Areobindos' head to
Antalas, but kept the money and, contrary to the agreement, gave
him none of it. When Antalas learned what had happened to
Areobindos, he considered Gontharis' false oaths and wanted to go
over to the emperor Justinian. Artabanes, for his part, accepted
Gontharis' assurances and went into the palace with the Armenians
and agreed to serve the usurper, but secretly planned to destroy him.
After he had disclosed his intention to his nephew Gregory and his
bodyguard Artaserios, Gregory said to him, 'Now, Artabanes, it is
possible for you alone to gain the glory of Belisarius. For he received
an army and great sums of money from the emperor, with subordi-
nate officers and a fleet larger than anyone had ever heard of, and
with great toil made Libya a tributary state of the Romans. But now
Libya has revolted from the Empire and is again in its old state. It lies
with you alone to win it back for the emperor and to restore its
affairs. Consider your race, that you are an Arsacid by descent, and
that being well-born, it is always necessary for you to act bravely and
display many deeds of valour. Remember how as a young man you
killed Akakios, commander of the Armenians and Tzitas,”® the

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Roman general, and joined in campaigns with Chosroes the emperor
of Persia. Being such a man do not let Roman authority stay in the
hands of that drunken dog. Artaserios and I will help as best we can
in carrying out your commands."! I™

uGontharis ordered Artabanes to take charge of the army and
march against Antalas and the Moors in Byzakion. He was accom-
panied by John, leader of the rebel troops, and the bodyguard
Oulitheos. The Moors under Koutzinas followed. He clashed with
Antalas and the barbarians and routed them. Playing the coward
deliberately, Artabanes suddenly wheeled round his detachment and
drove towards the camp. Oulitheos planned to kill him in the camp.
Artabanes alleged that he was afraid that the barbarians might come
out of the city of Adramyton to help their opponents and do
ir :parable damage to us. He also said that Gontharis ought to march
out with the full army and so capture them all. He announced this
to the usurper on his return to Carthage. After taking counsel with
Pasiphilos, the usurper decided to arm the entire army and lead it
himself on a campaign, leaving only a garrison in the city. Out of
suspicion Gontharis killed many men every day.ll Gontharis went
from Carthage to a suburban estate,”° where from ancient times
there were three couches, on which he reclined with Artabanes,
Athanasios, and Peter, Solomon's bodyguard. Artabanes, thinking
this was a suitable time to kill the usurper, confided this to Gregory
and Artaserios and three trusted bodyguards. He ordered the body-
guards to remain inside with their swords. For it was customary for
bodyguards to stand behind their commanders at dinner. He ordered
them to make the attempt suddenly when he himself gave the sig-
nal by a nod, and having ordered Artaserios to begin the action, he
di ;cted Gregory to select many of the most daring Armenians and
have them present in the palace carrying their swords, without
revealing the plot to any of them.* After the drink had been flowing
for some time and Gontharis was thoroughly soused with wine,
Artaserios drew his sword and went for the usurper. One of the ser-
vants, seeing the naked blade, shouted out, 'What are you doing,
man?’ Gontharis turned his face and stared at him. Artaserios struck
him with his sword and cut off his right hand. As Gontharis jumped
up, Artabanes, dagger drawn, plunged it to the hilt into the
ur urper's side, killing him immediately. Then Artabanes ordered

lanasios to take control of the money in the palace, as he had
do le under Areobindos. When the guards learned of Gontharis'
death, they proclaimed Justinian their ‘victorious emperor’.
Thereupon those who were well disposed to the emperor leaped into
the houses of the mutineers and killed them. John fled with the

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Vandals to the church, but Artabanes, after giving them pledges,
brought them out and sent them to Byzantium. The slaying of the
usurper took place 36 days after his rebellion, during Justinian's 19th
yearn A"

uArtabanes won great fame for this among all men. Periecta,
Areobindos' wife, rewarded Artabanes with rich presents. The
emperor made him general of all Libya. Not much later, however,
Artabanes resigned and returned to the emperor in Byzantium, while
the emperor appointed John, brother of Pappos, as general of
Libya.’* After reaching Libya, John campaigned against Antalas and
the Moors in Byzakion, vanquished them in battle,'? slew many
enemies and, after regaining the standards which the barbarians had
captured from Solomon, sent them to the emperor in Byzantium. He
then chased the remaining barbarians out of Roman territory. Later,
the Leuathai™* arrived in Byzakion with a large army from the coun-
try round Tripolis and united with Antalas. John met them, was
defeated with heavy losses, and retreated to Carthage. The barbar-
ians went as far as Carthage plundering its territory. Later John
aroused the enthusiasm of his soldiers, made an alliance with the
Moors under Koutzinas and other Moors, engaged the barbarians in
battle and routed them.” In a mighty pursuit, he killed a great mass
of them, while the remainder fled to the most distant parts of Libya.

In this manner the affairs of Libya gained complete peace.|I*"”°
" Mai. 449. 12-14; cf. Mai. at De insid. 45 (171. 35-172. 6). > Cf AM 5931
<= Perris Prok. BVi. 3. 23,32; i. 7. 30. 4 Prok. BVi. 8. 1-14. "Ibid
i. 8. 29-9. 9. f Ibid. i. 9.20-3. * Ibid. i. 9. 10-14. * Ibid. i. 9. 24-r0
31. " Ibid. i. 11. 1. " bid. i. 11. 23. * Ibid, i. 24. 1. " Ibid
i. 11. 5-21. ™ Ibid. i. 12. 2. "Ibid. i. 1-23, ° Ibid. i. 12. 1-7
P Ibid. i. 13. 1 " Tbid.ia4. 3-17. " Thid. i. 15. 31-16. 12. * Ibid, i
17. 1-18. 12. " Tbid. i. 19. 1-20. 3. " Tbid. i. 20. 15-21. 16. ’ Tbid
i. 23. 1-17. i Ibid. i. 25. i-il. 3. 28. * Ibid. ii. 4. 9-31. ” Tbid
ii. 6. 13-7. 17. * Ibid. ii. 5. 1-25. * Ibid. ii. 8. 1-5; and 23. op
Ibid. ii. 9. 1-15. ae ii. 10. ii and 13- 2 44 Ibid. ii, 11. 14-18,
47-56. “ Ibid. ii. 1-28. Ibid. i. 11. 6. “ Ibid. ii. 12. 29
yy Did. ii. 14. 1-6. " Tbid. ii. 14. 7- “15. 49. » Ibid. ii. 16. 1-17. 35
Ke Ibid. ii. 19. 1-3. ™ Mai. 480. ™ Prok. BVii. 19. 5-32. Ibid
ii. 20. 10-33. °° Ibid. ii. 21. 1-16. PP Ibid. ii. 21. 17-28. i" Ibid, ii
22. 1-23. 15. TT Ibid. ii. 23. 27-24. 16. * Ibid. ii. 25. 1-28. " Tbid
ii. 26. 4-33. “Ibid. ii. 27. 1-18. "Ibid. ii. 27. 23-37. “™ Ibid, ii
28. r-41. ™ Thid. ii. 28. 42-52.

Mal.'s date is 529. For this incident we have, in addition to the abbrevi-
ated Baroccianus MS of Mai., the more detailed and perhaps original version
preserved in De insid. It is remarkable that here Theophanes appears already
to be using the abbreviated version (but not apparently elsewhere), adding
only ‘of the empress Theodora’ and 'by the emperor's command’. For a trans-

306

Chronogra phia AM6024

lation of the De insid. version, see Mai. Trans., p. 263. For the incident, cf.
Prok. Anecd. 16. 7-10.

* Theophanes has probably taken only his date from Mal.'s four-line
notice (478. 22-479. 3) on the Vandal Wars, which includes the date of the
12th indiction (AD 533/4). But cf. 'o', so Prok. may be Theophanes' source for
the date. So begins the main part of what is by far the longest account of an
entry under a single year in Theophanes. It is almost entirely a precis of
Prok. BV apart from the opening date, a single sentence drawn from Mai,
and a few lines drawn from an unknown source (see n. 104 below). To con-
centrate the Vandal War into a single narrative Theophanes openly aban-
dons annalistic treatment.

3 Cf. AM 5931. Theophanes there dates (incorrectly) their crossing of the
Danube to the reigns of Arkadios and Honorius, but the crossing into Libya
to the reigns of Theodosios II and Valentinian.

4 Cf. AM 5931. There Theophanes acknowledges that Godigisklos had
died before the crossing into Africa in 429. In fact he died in 406 before the
Vandals crossed the Rhine, let alone moved to Spain or Africa.

> Gogdaris (Gunderic, Gunthiricus) almost certainly died in 428 in Spain
before the crossing into Africa.

° Gizerich (Geiseric) Gogdaris' half-brother, was king of the Vandals
428-77 and led the Vandals from Spain to Africa in 429, where, after several
years of fighting, they received land from the Romans in 435, probably along
the coast of Numidia.

7 The Vandals invaded Africa Proconsularis in 439 and captured
Carthage on 19 Oct. from which time the 39 years is calculated (439-77).

® In 455. Cf. AM 5947.

° Huneric (Hunirix in official documents), king of the Vandals 477-84.

3 Theophanes wrongly adds 'to Spain’. Theuderich is Theuderich Amal,
king of the Ostrogoths in Italy. Cf. AM 5931, n. 11, where Theophanes like-
wise appears to confuse this Theuderich with one of the Visigothic kings,
perhaps Theuderich II, king 453-66, who did invade Spain. The date here is
c.500.

“4 Lilybaeum (modern Marsala) in Prok., correctly.

°° Hilderix (Ilderich), king 523-30.

's ie. Amer (Hoamer) of a few lines below. Theophanes appears to have
misread Prok.'s "Oa/xep yovwv as one word, possibly taking it to be an
accusative from which he has created a nominative 'Amergous'’. He has also
treated the beginning of the name understandably as the definite article (0).
Cf. his similar treatment of Bousiris at AM 5782.

‘7 Great-grandson of Gizerich according to Prok.

8 A collection of errors by Theophanes, presumably aimed at vilifying
Gelimer. Theophanes has already named Amalafrida correctly as
Trasamoundos' wife, and, as Prok. makes clear, it was Ilderich who both
imprisoned Amalafrida and led this campaign against the Goths. Amalafrida
died in prison, possibly as early as 523 and certainly before 527.

307

am 6024 Chronographia

*? Prok. places the equivalent of this sentence before the usurpation.

*° In Prok. the order is (i) Justinian's letter to Gelimer; (ii) the blinding of
Amer and closer imprisonment of Ilderich and Euagees; (iii) A second letter
from Justinian; (iv) Gelimer's letter to Justinian. Theophanes has felt it in
more in keeping with Byzantine dignity for Gelimer to seek recognition
from the great Justinian rather than for Justinian to make overtures twice
and be disdained.

™ Cf. AM 6023 for discussion of the date. Prok. has Justinian still planning
to end war with Persia so as to oppose Gelimer.

» See AM 5961, 5963.

3 Prok. does not describe John of Cappadocia here as 'patrician' but 'prae-
torian prefect’, to which position he had been recalled after the Nika riots.
Theophanes, unaware of the reappointment, has perhaps attempted to cor-
rect what he may have regarded as Prok.'s error.

*4 Prok.'s version is modelled on Herodotus, vii. 10-18. On the use of the
wise-adviser topos, cf. R. Scott in M. Mullett and R. Scott, Byzantium and
the Classical Tradition, 73-4.

*5 Theophanes here sensibly and competently rearranges Prok.'s material
in order to summarize it, but unfortunately spoils this at 'n' where an expe-
dition is seemingly sent against Goddas posthumously.

6 Prok. has 400 Eruls (Heruls) not Elours, and 600 Massagetai.

*7 Sinnion.

8 'None able to carry more than 50,000 or less than 3,000 medimnf,

Prok.
29
30

g2 in Prok.
Probably identical with Germai (variants Germae, Germas, and possi-
bly Germenne), of Prok. Aed. iv. 1 31, iv. 4; Hierocles, 654. 5, which
Honigmann, ad loc. identifies as Saparevska Banja in Bulgaria, approx. 40
km. south of Serdica/Sofia.

3: Theophanes has misplaced this entry, which should be attached to ‘J’.
Cf. n. 25 above.

» Cf. n. 2 above. 33, Porto Lombardo.

34 Caputvada in Latin, which name was given it when Justinian built a
city there to commemorate the landing (Prok. Aed. vi. 6. 8). It still retains
the name as 'Ras Kaboudia’.

35 Modern Salakta.

35° In Prok. it is the keys that are sent to the general.

© ie. c.i6 km. or 10 miles.
Modern Lamta (Leptis Minor) and Sousse.
Grasse in Prok., but not identified.
350 in Prok., i.e. c.7o km. or 44 miles.
Theophanes has changed Prok.'s eparch 'prefect' to hyparch.
i.e. at the tenth milestone from Carthage. Prok. describes it as a sub-
urb, 70 stades from Carthage.

” Gibamund in Prok. Vict. Tonn., against Prok., describes him as
Gelimer's brother.

*® Prok. only hints at God's intervention.

37
38
39
40
41

308

Chronogra phia AM6024

441
46

Rejoiced' is not in Prok. 45 Given in indirect speech by Prok.
Restored by de Boor from Prok. tentatively, since it is also omitted in
Anastasius’ Latin translation.

4” Two out of 22 were killed according to Prok. so Theophanes' 20 is his
typical emendation.

4 On this, see W. E. Kaegi, ‘radii, 21 (1965), 23-53.

49 Lauros in Prok.

°° 150 stades from Carthage according to Prok. It has not been identified.
So explaining Theophanes' dating the crossing into Africa to AM 5931
(438/9), whereas Prok. has calculated from the capture of Carthage.

* Probably the Edough range, which extends from the gulf of Hippo
Regius (modern Bone) to Rusicade (Philippeville). See C. Courtois, ses
Vandales etVAfrique (Paris, 1955), 184 n. 1

°3 In Prok., Belisarius placed the Herul Pharas in charge, who prevented
supplies reaching Gelimer rather than being without supplies himself.

4 'Oil' is Theophanes' substitution for ‘any good thing’.

°° 'Senseless' (<xAoya) is Theophanes' substitution for ‘other’ (aAAa), per-
haps a misreading or an emendation.

5° In Prok., Pharas writes first. Cf. n. 20.

>? Kyrnos was the old name for Corsica (Herodotus, i. 165), not Sardinia,
as Prok. makes clear. On this grisly procedure of dispatching severed heads,
see McCormick, Eternal Victory, passim, @SD. 18, 44-8.

% Modern Cherchel, about 20 km. west of Algiers.

i.e. Latin seprem (seven). Probably modern Ceuta. Cf. Prok. aed. vi. 7.

59
14.

°° On the evidence of Prok., Justinian rather than Belisarius ought to be
the subject here. Either Theophanes has misunderstood Prok., or, as de Boor
suspects, the text is wrong.

* McCormick, Eternal Victory, 125-9, cf 65-6, argues that Prok. has
exaggerated the unusualness of this triumph and that in essence his descrip-
tion 'reveals a composite ceremony whose constituent elements are easily
identifiable within late Roman society's repertory of public ritual’.
Although the honour granted to Belisarius was unique, it remained
Justinian's triumph, which is demonstrated by the fact that Belisarius nei-
ther rode nor was driven but walked on foot like any commoner and pros-
trated himself before Justinian, 'seeing that he was a suppliant of the
emperor’ (sv ii. 9. r2), a detail which Theophanes significantly omits.

° Theophanes' description of the triumph hardly abbreviates Prok. at all
to this point, but here he omits the story that Justinian, on the advice of a
Jew, sent the Jewish treasures to Jerusalem on the grounds that they had
brought ill-fortune both to Rome and to Gelimer.

% Ecclesiastes I: 2.

°* Thus showing that Justinian regarded Gelimer as a defeated usurper
from within the Empire, and not as an independent sovereign. See
McCormick, Eternal Victory, 128-9, against S. MacCormack, nt and
Ceremony in Late Antiquity (Berkeley, 1981), 76. Theophanes here omits
the fact that Belisarius also made obeisance to Justinian, thus removing

309

AM6024 Chronographia

some of the evidence which played down Belisarius' role in the celebration,
cf. n. 61.

® Belisarius was consul for 535, ‘the traditional reward bestowed on vic-
torious generals as recently as the reign of Anastasius’ (McCormick, Eternal
Victory, 129).

° With this sentence Theophanes returns to his abridgement of Prok.

® This sentence represents a considerable alteration of Prok. Theophanes
combines a later sentence about the Roman conquest of Carthage with a
statement about Phoenicians building a fortress in Numidia ‘where the city
of Tigisis now is’.

So the manuscripts and Anastasius. De Boor removed Theophanes'
howler by restoring Antaios from Prok. Antaios is supposed to have lived in
Libya (Pindar, Isth. 4. 54). Klipea (Clupea), the modern Kelibia, is a coastal
town east of Carthage.

® ie. the province of Byzacena (capital Hadrumetum), created out
of the southern portion of Africa Proconsularis. Cf. Cf1. 22. 2.1 (13 Apr.
5 4)

7 Mammes in Prok., on the border of Mauretania (Prok. Aed. vi. 6. 18).

” ‘Not less than 500’, Prok.

” Bourgaon in Prok., and also for the name of the mountain just below.
C. Courtois, Les Vandales et lAfrique, 349 n. 13, rejects the identification
of it with modern Bargou, but suggests the battle is the same as the battle of
Autenti (Corippus, Iohannid, iii. 319), a place mentioned but not identified
precisely in the Itinerarium Antoninum.

® According to Prok., all the leaders escaped except one who surrendered
under a guarantee of security.

™ The transfer of this sentence to this point is a welcome sign of
Theophanes’ competence in making his abridgement. Theophanes has used
‘illness' (nddos) for Prok.'s ‘chance’ or ‘accident’ (TIT).

® There was a total solar eclipse on 1 Sept. 536 and 25 Feb. 537, and a par-
tial lunar eclipse on 15 Sept. 536. In the previous (Byzantine) year there was
a partial solar eclipse on 13 Sept. 5 35, a total lunar eclipse on 27 Sept. 535,
and a partial one on 23 Mar. 536. (Grumel, 461, but overlooked by R. R.
Newton, Medieval Chronicles and the Rotation of the Earth (Baltimore,
‘97h 53'/ 547/ and by D. J. Schove, Chronology of Eclipses and
Comets, AD 1-1000 (Bury St Edmunds, r984), 262.)

® i.e. 536/7. In this section ‘hh’, Theophanes has reversed Prok.'s order,
apparently to help date the African mutiny.

7’ Theophanes seems to mean 537, i.e. in the spring of 536/7, but com-
mentators rightly place the mutiny in 536, since in fact Prok. reckoned
Justinian's regnal years from 1 Apr. and war years from the end of June (sum-
mer solstice), though claiming to reckon from the spring in a misleading
imitation of Thucydides. Thus Belisarius set out for Sicily sometime after
June 535, and this refers to the following Easter.

7% On the revolt, see W. E. Kaegi, Traditio, 21 (1965), 23-53.

” There is no mention of Goths in Prok., but only of barbarians, some
being Heruls.

310

Chronogra phia AM6024

% Martin did not embark for Carthage but went on Solomon's instruc-
tions to Numidia.

5" Tt is unclear in Prok. if this is the same Theodore who was rebel leader
(they were both Cappadocians) but this Theodore actually helped Solomon
escape.

. Mod Hammam Deradj, about 150 km. west of Carthage, 'four days
journey for an unencumbered traveller’ (Prok. BV i. 25. 1).

8 Modern Medjez-el-Bab, on the way to Boule, '350 stades [70 km.] from
Carthage’ (Prok.).

*4 Prok. was referring to a further uprising by Stotzas in Numidia, omit-

ted_by Th .
ed, uA by ie. senators, in Prok.
8° At Scalae Veteres (modern Cellas Vatari), probably in spring 537.

87 539/4°-

%8 'Sisiniolos' in Prok. correctly. Cf. ‘qq’, where Theophanes gets it right,
and ‘rr’, where he is called 'Konstantiolos.'

°° Theophanes, apparently lacking Prok.'s Gothic War, here turns to Mai.
er parallel not noted by de Boor), whose entry is under the year 539/40
ind. 3).

°° Mai. states that Narses was sent 'to Rome a short time later with a
large force against the Goths’. (There is no mention of a fleet.) This is a mis-
placed reference to Narses’ arrival in Italy in 538, i.e. before the fall of
Ravenna and of the Goths. Without this information Theophanes has ratio-
nalized the purpose of Narses' expedition in line with Narses' later admin-
istration of Ravenna. Cf. AM 6044. Sicily was ‘regained’ only in the sense
that Belisarius returned therefrom Carthage. In 538 Rome was saved by
Belisarius from the Goths who were besieging it. Vittius (Witigis, king of the
Goths since late 536) was taken prisoner when Belisarius regained Ravenna
in May 549, which is probably what Mai. was referring to rather than Rome.

* 'Abigas’ (modern Oued Bou Roughal) on the northern slope of Mount
Aurasion (modern Jebel Auress).

* Modern Ksar Baghai (S. Gsell, Atlas archeologique de 1'Algeria
(Algiers, 1911), no. 68).

°° Tamougade (modern Timgad) in Prok. There are extensive remains.

** On Mount Aurasion.

® Roughly equivalent to a quartermaster, originally someone chosen
(optatus) by the general. In Prok. his name is Gezon.

Somewhat improbable at the time of Theophanes’ writing.

%” With the money captured from Iaudas' tower, according to Prok.

98 Mauretania Prima or Sitifiensis, i.e. beyond Mount Aurasion.

*® Theophanes has muddled Prok.'s account. Mauretania here refers to
the province of Mauretania Caesarea (metropolis Caesarea) while Itiphis
(Sitiphis in Prok., modern Setif) was the metropolis of Zabe/Mauretania
Sitifiensis. The division of Mauretania into two provinces was first made by
Claudius before AD 44.

1° i.e. 543/4. **' The province of Cyrenaica.
ie. Tripolitania (capital, Leptis Magna, modern Lebda), the province

411

102

am6024 Chronographia

adjoining Cyrenaica. According to Prok., the Moors here are the Leuathai,
whom Theophanes does not mention by this name until the very end of his
account (at de Boor, 215 end).

‘3 Carthage is implied but not mentioned here by Prok., who adds that
Sergius found his brother Kyros there. This provides the context for
Theophanes' insertion which follows.

‘4 This insertion (The Moors . . . marched on Carthage) by Theophanes
is his only information on North Africa not taken from Prok. The detail
implies a good source and it is remarkable that there appears to be no other
trace of it.

105 Modern Benghazi and earlier Hesperides, on the east coast of the gulf
of Sirte, one of the five cities that made up the Pentapolis. It was fortified by
Justinian (Prok. Aed. vi. 2. 5).

6 Tebeste in Prok., modern Tebessa, about 250 km. south-west of
Carthage. Bury, HLRE”, ii. 145, preferring Vict. Tonn. a.543, says the battle
was at Cillium (modern Kasrin, west of Sbeitla).

*°7 So too Prok., though Prok. did not mention the Gospels in his initial
account of the oath.

108 jn Prok, Himerios was ordered rather to unite his forces with those of
John.

*°? Modern Sousse.

The Moors used Himerios to persuade the inhabitants to open their
gates, convinced that it was the Romans who had been victorious.

™! The husband of Justinian's niece, Preiecta.

"2 i.e. they claimed descent from the royal dynasty of Parthia of c.250
BC-AD 230.

"3 Tn fact Sisinniolos. Cf. n. 88 above for Theophanes' earlier mistake
with this name.

“4 At Thacia (modern Bordj Messaoud, about 130 km. south-west of
Carthage) in 545 according to Vict. Tonn.

"5 He was later given a command in Italy. Marcell. com. addit. dates his
recall to 546. If so, it must have been early in the year (J. Partsch suggested
Jan. in his introduction to Coripp. Ioh., MGH AA iii. 2, xx), but spring 545
is more likely. See Marcell. com., tr. Croke, 137, and PLRE iii. 1127, fol-
lowing Stein, BE ii. 551-3.

"6 Late 545 unless Partsch's suggestion (n. 115) is accepted, in which
case March 546. On the chronology of the following events, see Stein, BE ii.
553m. 1.

"7 7ostades(i4 km.) from Carthage. Cf. above (de Boor, 192) andn.41.

"8 Vict. Tonn. states that Areobindos was governor for 35 days, support-
ing a date of c.Mar. 546 (cf. n. 116).

"9 For Tzitas, cf. AM 6020 and PLRE iii. 1160-3, Sittas 1.

*° There is nothing in Prok. to suggest a suburban estate or that
Gontharis left Carthage. Prok. does say that Gontharis planned to leave
Carthage (with the army) on the day after the banquet and Theophanes may
have misinterpreted this.

™ ie. 545/6. Cf. nn. ir6 and 118, so the date is about May 546.

110

312

Chronogra phia AM 6024

22 Probably appointed late in 546 (Stein, BE ii. 555 suggests beginning of
autumn). Prok. gives him scant attention but his exploits were the subject
of a surviving Latin epic by Corippus, the Iohannid.

3 Probably early 547.

4 Theophanes has not separated the Leuathai from other Moors before
this. Cf. n. 102.

*> At the 'Fields of Cato’, probably in 548, Coripp., Ioh. viii. 165.

26 Cf. AM 6055 (de Boor 238-9) for the renewal of hostilities.

am 6027 [ad 534/5]

[Year of the divine Incarnation] 527
Justinian, 8 th year

Chosroes, 10th year

John, 3rd year

Epiphanios, 15 th year

John, bishop of Jerusalem (11 years), 1st year
Timothy, 15th year

Ephraim, 8 th year

In this year, the emperor of the Iberians, Zamanarzos, came to
Constantinople to the most pious emperor Justinian. He was accom-
panied by his wife and senators, and sought to be an ally and true
friend of the Romans. The emperor approved of this desire and hon-
oured him and his senators with many gifts. Likewise the Augusta
gratified his wife with jewelry of all kinds decorated with pearls. The
emperor sent them back in peace to their own kingdom.’

" This paragraph remains obscure. We do not know Theophanes' source.
Stein, BE ii. 295, rejected the passage as irreconcilable with the evidence of
Prok. {BP i. 22. 16) that under the terms of the ‘eternal peace’ Justinian rec-
ognized Persian suzerainty over Iberia. Stein suggested this passage is a dou-
blet for Gourgenes' visit to Constantinople under Justin I (Prok. BP i. r2.
5-6, ii. 15. 6, and esp. ii. 28. 20, where Prok. adds that the Persians did not
allow the Iberians to have a king after Gourgenes). 'Samanazos', however,
appears in a list of rulers contemporary with Justinian (Mai. 429. 15) and it
is also difficult to see how the names Gourgenes and Zamanarzos could be
confused. Given Iberian distrust of Persian rule at this time (Prok. BPii. 28.
21 with ii. 28. 16 for the date of the third year of the truce), this may well
represent an attempt by Justinian to regain influence in Iberia. PLRE iii.
1109, noting that the ruler of the Iberians at this time was Dach'i or
Bacurius II, suggests that 'Samanazus was probably an Iberian dynast'. See
C. Toumanoff, Museon, 65 (1952), 45 for perhaps an over-confident account
of the chronology of Iberian rulers based on Georgian sources. The quality
of the sources does make it worth suggesting that 'Samanazos' may repre-
sent Pharasmenes V, ruler of Iberia supposedly 547/8-561/2.

313

am 6024 Chronographia

AM 6028 [AD 535/6]

[Year of the divine Incarnation] 528
Justinian, 9th year

Chosroes, nth year

Agapetos, bishop of Rome (2 years), 1st year’
Ephiphanios, 16 th year

John, 2nd year

Timothy, 16 th year

Ephraim, 9th year

I lln this year Pompeiopolis in Mysia suffered from divine anger.” The
ground was split by the earthquake, and half the city along with its
inhabitants was engulfed. They were beneath the earth and their
voices could be heard shouting for mercy. The emperor gave gener-
ously towards excavating and assisting them and granted gifts to the
survivors. I \*

Illn the same year Justinian directed that the hymn, 'The only-
begotten Son and Word of God' be sung in churches. 1 He also
made the clock at the Milion.II*

"Mai. 436. 17-437. 2; cf. Ps.-Dion. a.850, Mich. Syr. ii. 192. > Cf. Nik. Kail,
xvii. 28 (292A), Geo. Mon. ii. 627. © Cf. Mai. 479. 17-18.

* Agapetos was pope from 13 May 535 to 22 Apr. 536.

* Mal.'s date is 528 or 529. It is not clear why Theophanes has chosen a
later date, but note that both John of Ephesos and Ps.-Dion. date the earth-
quake to 538/9. Pompeiopolis was identified by E. Honigmann as Mansio or
Praesidium Pompei 35.5 km. north of Naissus (see Stein, ze ii. 420, n. 1) in
Moesia Prima.

3 Nik. Kail. xvii. 28 credits Justinian with the authorship of the hymn, a
troparion. See also Geo. Mon. 627. On the attribution to Justinian see V.
Grumel, co 22 (1923), 398-418, against J. Puyade, roc 17 (1912), 253-67,
who attributes it to Severus. The text is in A. Amelotti and L. M. Zingale,
Sciitti Iustiniani teologici ed __ ecclesiastici (1977), 44, W. Christ and M.
Paranikas, Anthologia Giaeca Carminum Chiistianoium (Leipzig, 1871) ‘
52, and in the notes to Nik. Kali. ad. loc. (PG 147, col. 291). Its dyophysite
ideas were quickly accepted and the hymn appears to have been used by
Cyril of Scythopolis in his Life of Euthymius. See C. J. Stallman, Cyril of
Seythopotis (Brookline, Mass., 1991), 49-51. The hymn still has a place in
the Orthodox liturgy, but was probably moved to its present position (after
the second Antiphon) in the 9 th cent.

* Presumably Mai. is the source here but he says ‘the clock near the
Augustaion and the Basilica was moved.

314

Chronogra phia AM 6024

AM 6029 [AD 536/7]

Year of the divine Incarnation 529

Justinian, emperor of the Romans (38 years), 10th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (48 years), 12th year
Agapetos, bishop of Rome (2 years), 2nd year
Anthimos, bishop of Constantinople (1 year), 1st year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (11 years), 3rd year
Timothy, bishop of Alexandria (17 years), 17th year
Ephraim, bishop of Antioch (18 years), 10th year

IlIn this year, Ephiphanios, bishop of Constantinople, died on 5 June 217
of the 15 th indiction,’ having been bishop for 16 years and 3 months.
Anthimos, a heretic, bishop of Trebizond, was transferred to
Constantinople. u** Agapetos, bishop of Rome, arrived in Constan-
tinople in this year and called a synod? against the impious Severus*
and Julian of Halikarnassos and the other Theopaschites. Thereupon
Anthimos, bishop of Constantinople, was deposed for being of one
mind with them and driven out of the capital’ after ten months as
bishop. Menas, presbyter and steward of the hospice of Sampson,
was ordained in his stead by Agapetos, the Pope of Rome. Agapetos,
bishop of Rome, died while he was in Byzantium.Il° Silverius,’ who
lived for one year, was ordained in his placed I‘

" Cf. Cramer, Eccl. Hist. no. 3-5. >’ Cf. Mai. 479. 7-12, Cramer, Eccl. Hist.
112.28-33. © Cf. Jac. Edess. 241.

* Indiction 15 is right for AM 6029, so one would expect this date to be reli-
able. It also has the support of Vict. Tonn. But Marcell. com. addit. puts
Epiphanios' death in 535, which has the support of the general tradition.
Agapetos, pope since May 535, came to Constantinople either at the end of
535 (Bury, wzre* ii. 172) or by Mar. 536 (Stein, ze ii. 383, citing Zach. He
ix. 19), deposed Anthimos, consecrated Menas on 13 Mar. 536, and died in
Constantinople on 22 Apr. 536. Mis successor Silverius was consecrated in
June 536, and was in turn succeeded by Vigilius on 29 Mar. 537.

* A Monophysite, h e owed t o Theodora his appointment, which was con-
trary to the canon forbidding the transfer of bishops from one see to another.
See Stein, 26 ii. 381, cf. i. 134-5.

3 Since Agapetos had died, Menas presided over the synod, which sat
from 2 May to 4 June. Its decision, supporting the two natures of Christ, was
modelled on the formula of Hormisdas (see AM 6006) back in the reign of
Anastasios.

* Severus had set out for Constantinople in the 13 th indiction (534/5) but
did not arrive till after the beginning of the 14th (535).

> In fact Theodora kept Anthimos hidden in her palace.

® 'Silverius’ also in Jacob of Edessa, 'Silvester' in the chronological notice.

315

am6024 Chronographia

Although Theophanes' source here may just possibly have been Syriac, it is
much more likely to have been his ecclesiastical compendium.

[am 6030, ad 537/8]

Justinian, nthyear

Chosroes, 13th year

Silvester, bishop of Rome (1 year), 1st year’

Menas, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 1st year
John, 4th year

Gainas, bishop of Alexandria (1 year), 1st year
Ephraim, 11th year

IIIn this year on 27 December of the 1st indiction,* the first conse-
cration of the Great Church took place. The procession set out from
St Anastasia,? with Menas the patriarch sitting in the imperial car-
riage and the emperor joining in the procession with the people.
From the day when the most holy Great Church was burned* until

the day of its consecration there elapsed 5 years, 1 months, and 10
days. I?

"Cramer, Eccl Hist. 112. 34-113. 5 (verbatim); cf. Mai. 479. 21-2.

* Silverius/Silvester was pope from 1 or 8 June 536 to 1r Nov. 537.

* Theophanes' precise date should be accepted. Mai. implies a date after
r Jan. 538 (in this consulship = John of Cappadocia).

3 Cf. AM 5866, 5871, 5950, and 5954-

* Cf. AM 6024, n. 40. This supports a date of 17 Jan. 531 for the burning of
Hagia Sophia.

[am 6031, ad 538/9]

Justinian, 12th year

Chosroes, 14th year

Vigilius, bishop of Rome (18 years), 1st year’
Menas, 2nd year

John, 5th year

Theodosios, bishop of Alexandria (2 years), 1st year
Ephraim, 12th year

Illn this year* the Bulgars, namely two kings with a great force of
Bulgars and a troop of cavalry,’ invaded Scythia and Mysia. At the
time Justin was magister militam in Mysia and Badouarios in
Scythia. They marched out against the Bulgars and clashed with

316

Chionographia AM6025

them. Justin was killed in battle and Constantine,‘ son of Florentius,
replaced him. The Bulgars advanced as far as the districts of Thrace.
Constantine, the magister militum, went against them, as did also
Godilas, and Akoum the Hun, magister militum per Illyricum, for
whom the emperor had stood as baptismal sponsor. Surrounding the
Bulgars, they cut them down and killed a great mass of them,
stripped them of all the booty, and gained a complete victory, even
killing their two kings. As they were returning joyfully, other
Bulgars met them, and as the magistri militum were weary, they
turned their backs in retreat. The Bulgars gave chase and lassoed
Constantine, Akoum, and Godilas as they fled. Godilas cut the lasso
with his dagger and slipped out, but Constantine and Akoum were
captured alive. They gave back Constantine for a payment of 1,000
nomismata, and he came to Constantinople, but they held Akoum
in their own country with the other captives. I \*

IlIn the same year Chosroes, emperor of the Persians, captured
Antioch the Great in Syria,> and entered Apameia and other cities. 1°°

"Mai. 437. 19-438. 19. > Mai. 479. 23-480. 7.

" Vigilius was pope from 29 Mar. 537 to 7 June 555.

* Mai. places this within his narrative for 528 but without giving the
event a precise date, merely ‘during his reign’. This seems to have given
Theophanes the freedom to post-date the account by a decade. (Mai. placed
the account shortly after the earthquake at Pompeiopolis which
Theophanes post-dated by 7 years to AM 6028.) For the accuracy of Mal.'s
date, see AM 6032 below. Theophanes' error perhaps arises from wrongly
identifying the Justin killed here (pre iii. 748, Iustinus 1), with Justin, son
of Germanus (Pz Re iii. 750-4, Iustinus 4) whom his source, Mai., shows was
at Antioch shortly after its capture by Khusro in 5 40 (see below). It is a char-
acteristic of Theophanes to omit the clue to his basis of dating. It is possible
that Theophanes also somehow knew of (and confused) yet another Justin
who WaS_ magister militum for Illyr icum in €.536-8 and a magister militum
vacans 538-52 (see pire iii. 748-9, Iustinus 2).

3 The text is uncertain. 'And a troop of cavalry’ («tai Spovyyov) is omitted
in two MSS (d and h). De Boor, on the basis of Anastasius’ translation and
MSS e and m, suggests ‘two kings, Bulgar (var. Vulger) and Droung (var.
Droggo/Drongo), with a great force of Bulgars'’.

* Named as Konstantiolos by Mai. and probably identical with the
Konstantiolos who helped suppress the Nika riot. Cf. AM 6024.

> Mai. accurately dates this precisely by indiction to June 540. Taken
with the account of Belisarius at AM 6033, which shows Theophanes knew
of Prok.'s account, this is an extraordinarily brief statement about this dis-
astrous invasion. See AM 6033, n. 2. Theophanes creates the impression of
Justinian's military success leading to peace in Africa (€M 6026—the central

317

218

219

AM 6024 Chronographia

point of his account of the reign) and in Thrace (AM 6032) culminating in
Belisarius even 'having gained greater glory from his achievement’ in Persia
(AM 6033) than he did in Africa. Perhaps to maintain the impression of suc-
cess at this stage of Justinian's reign, Theophanes has minimized the disas-
ter.

° Sura, and Beroia. See Prok. BP ii. 5-13.

AM 6032 [AD 539/40]

Year of the divine Incarnation 532

Justinian, emperor of the Romans (38 years), 13th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (48 years), 15th year
Vigilius, bishop of Rome (18 years), 2nd year

Menas, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 3rd year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (11 years), 6 th year
Theodosios, bishop of Alexandria (2 years), 2nd year
Ephraim, bishop of Antioch (18 years), 13th year

Illn this year Moundos’ came over to the Romans, a descendant from
the race of the Gepids, the son of Giesmos. After his father's death,
he went to Regas,” his maternal uncle, who was king of Sermium.
Theuderich, king of Rome heard this, sent him a message and per-
suaded him to join him and be his ally. After Theuderich's death,*
he went to the river Danube and asked the emperor Justinian to
accept him as a subject of the Empire, and so he came to
Constantinople. The emperor honoured him and his son with many
gifts and released them, making Moundos magister militum per
Illyricum. When he came to Illyricum, the Bulgars invaded in large
numbers.* He hastened against them and destroyed them all. From
among the captives, he sent their leader and others to
Constantinople, where they were paraded in the Hippodrome.° A
deep peace came to Thrace, for the Huns no longer dared to cross the
Danube.I\* The emperor sent the Bulgar prisoners to Armenia and
Lazica and had them enrolled in the numeri.”

° Mai. 450. 19-451. 15.

* On Moundos, seeB. Croke, Chiron, 12 (1982), 125-35, against PLRE iii.
903-5. Mai. correctly dates his coming over to 529. He took part in the sup-
pression of the Nika riots in 532 (@M 6024) and was killed in 536.
Theophanes' error is a necessary consequence of his error with the Bulgar
campaign of AM 6031, but he has overlooked his inclusion of Moundos in his
account of the Nika riots.

* Trapstila.

Chronogra phia AM6024

> Moundos probably found it advisable to leave the Gepids when Trasaric,
Trapstila's son, succeeded his father as king. See Croke, art. cit. 129.

4 526. > Cf. AM 603R.

° For a discussion of the Hippodrome ceremonial, see B. Croke, BSi 41
(1980), 188-95. The date is 530.

? Cf. AM 6020 (527/8) for the rearrangements and army reinforcements in
Armenia and Lazica. Continued fighting in the area in 530 will have made
this a natural area to receive further reinforcements.

[AM 6033, AD 540/1]

Justinian, 14th year

Chosroes, 16 th year

Vigilius, 3rd year

Menas, 4th year

John 7th year

Paul, bishop of Alexandria (2 years), 1st year
Ephraim, 14 th year

In the 14th year of Justinian, Chosroes, emperor of the Persians,
made his fourth invasion into Roman territory.’ 1 After arriving in
the territory of Commagene, he planned to march against Palestine
and Jerusalem, to plunder the treasures in Jerusalem. For he had
heard that the land was good and that its inhabitants had much gold.
The Romans did not intend opposing them in any way. They entered
the fortresses, as each man was able, and planned to guard these and
save themselves. When Justinian heard this, he sent Belisarius, who
had returned from the West, against them. Travelling by public
horse, he reached Euphratesia with all speed. Justus, the emperor's
cousin, with Bouzes, the magister militum per Orientem, had
sought refuge in Hierapolis. When they heard that Belisarius was on
his way, they wrote to him to come to them and defend Hierapolis.
Belisarius castigated them severely, writing to them that it was not
right to defend a single city and allow the enemies to march through
Roman territory with impunity, and to destroy the cities of the
Empire: 'For you know well that it is better to die bravely than to be
saved by not fighting. For that would not be called safety, but treach-
ery and rightly so. But come with all speed to the district of Europos,
where, having assembled the whole army, I hope to deal with the
enemy to the extent that God wishes.’ At this news the commanders
took courage and left Justus with a few soldiers to guard Hierapolis
while the rest went to Europos.u* When Chosroes learned that
Belisarius had encamped the entire Roman army at Europos, he
was amazed, and not knowing whether to advance further, sent his

319

221

AM 6024 Chronographia

secretary Abandanes, an intelligent man, to Belisarius to spy on the
general and the camp on the pretext of complaining that the emperor
Justinian had not sent ambassadors to Persia to discuss peace.
Belisarius, when he learned that the envoys were coming, himself
selected 6,000 tall men with fine figures and went out far from the
camp to hunt. He ordered Diogenes, the bodyguard, and Adoulios, an
Armenian, to cross the river with 1,000 cavalry to examine the river-
crossing. When Belisarius became aware that the ambassador was
nearby, he pitched his tent in a deserted spot, making it clear that he
had come without any equipment. He then arranged his troops. On
each side of the tent were Thracians and IIlyrians, Goths and Elours
and with them Vandals and Moors. They covered most of the plain.
Nor did they stay in one spot, but moved around stalking, as if they
were hunters and noticed Chosroes' ambassador incidentally as it
seemed. So they walked with their gear on, smiling cheerfully, bran-
dishing their axes and hunting spears. Abandanes, when he was ush-
ered into Belisarius’ presence, alleged that Chosroes was aggrieved
that Justinian had not sent ambassadors to him in accordance with
the agreement to discuss peace and so had compelled Chosroes to
campaign against the Romans. Belisarius took no account of his
words, saying that Chosroes was responsible for the war. For if he
had desired peace, he would not have come to Roman territory to lay
claim to it, but would have stayed in his own country to await the
ambassadors. With that he dismissed the envoy, who went to
Chosroes and said that he had seen the general Belisarius, a man who
was exceptionally intelligent and brave, and soldiers such as he had
never beheld before. 'I was amazed by their good order, being assem-
bled, as they are, from a variety of races.’ He advised Chosroes not to
get involved in a fight with them, in case he was defeated and lost
the entire Persian empire, being in Roman territory and having no
means of escape. Yet a victory would not be a great achievement,
because he would merely have defeated a Roman general. On his
advice Chosroes decided to return immediately to his own country.
But he was afraid of crossing the river as the Romans held it. After
much deliberation he sent a request to Belisarius to draw back the
men who had crossed the river and to provide him passage without
hindrance. Belisarius immediately sent envoys to him and praised
him for withdrawing and assured him that ambassadors from the
emperor would arrive shortly to discuss peace. Chosroes asked
Belisarius that his passage through Roman territory should be free of
danger. Belisarius sent John of Edessa, a most illustrious man, as a
hostage to Chosroes to guarantee his safe passage out of Roman
lands. The Romans praised Belisarius for having gained greater glory

320

Chronographia AM 6033

from this achievement than when he had brought the two emperors
Gelimer and Vittigis as prisoners of war to Byzantium. For it was
truly worthy of record and praise that, when the Romans were terri-
fied and were all hiding in their fortresses and Chosroes was present
with a large army in the middle of the Roman Empire, one man
should come from Byzantium by the public post to set up camp
against the emperor of the Persians, and Chosroes, unexpectedly
deceived by that man's cleverness, should return to his own land
without accomplishing anything. 1

Illn the same year, on the death of Timothy,’ bishop of Alexandria,
the impious Severus, the adulterous bishop of Antioch,* and Julian
of Halikarnassos, exiles in Alexandria, differed on the question of
the Corruptible and the Incorruptible,* and came into conflict with
each other since they were strangers to the truth. The one installed
Theodosios,° and the other Gainas as bishops of Alexandria. Gainas’
held the bishopric for a single year, Theodosios for two. Justinian
dispatched orders calling them to Byzantium,® commanded them to
stay apart from one another, and installed a certain Paul, who
seemed to be orthodox, as bishop of Alexandria. But Paul commem-
orated the unholy Severus and was banished from the bishopric?
through the emperor's anger and came to dwell in Jerusalem. I‘

» Prok. BPii. 20. >’ Prok. BP ii. 21-9. ‘= Cf. Jac. Edess. 241, Mich. Syr.
ii. 193-4.

From the dating by regnal, years and invasions it appears that
Theophanes is using Prok. as his source, except that in Prok. this is the third
invasion and the date must be 5 42. It is not clear how Theophanes reached
the figure of four invasions.

* As with his use of Prok.'s BV (AM 6026), Theophanes provides a reason-
ably good summary. It is clear that he has access to Prok.'s BP so his extra-
ordinarily long account of Belisarius' insignificant success on this occasion
needs to be set beside his equally extraordinarily brief account of Chosroes'
major invasion at AM 6031. Theophanes has used Prok. carefully and selec-
tively to play down Byzantine losses and enhance Belisarius’ glory.

3 Contrast the chronological table which, almost correctly, puts
Timothy's death at AM 6029 (536/7!. Timothy died on 7 Feb. 535.

* Severus died at Xois in the Delta on 8 Feb. 538, after returning to Egypt
from Constantinople in 535 (cf. AM 6029). See Stein, BE ii. 384.

> Cf. AM 6ori and also 6057. 'The problem was as nice a metaphysical
conundrum as had ever been propounded to philosophically-minded theolo-
gians. Was Christ's flesh inseparably united to the Word corruptible or not?
Had the divine nature so absorbed the human into itself as to change its very
nature and render the body itself incorruptible? . . . Julian argued that the
corruption of the flesh was only seeming, the result of Christ's voluntarily

32.1

22,2

am6024 Chronographia

taking upon himself our infirmities (Isa. 53: 4). It was not due to the neces-
sity of the nature of the flesh’. Frend, Monophysite Movement, 262, citing
Zach. HE ix. 12.

° Theodosios was installed on 10 Feb. 535 by the military governor of
Alexandria acting on Theodora's instructions. Mich. Syr. ii. 194 reports that
Narses needed 6,000 troops to install him. With Severus' support, he lasted
for 17 months. See Frend, Monophysite Movement, 270.

7 Usually 'Gaianus’, he was expelled on 24 May 535 after 104 days.

8 Theodosios (with others, but probably not Gainas) was summoned to
Constantinople in Dec. 536 and was deposed, probably towards the end of
537. See E. W. Brooks, BZ 12 (1903), 494-7; Frend, Monophysite Movement,
274.

° Paul, implicated in a charge of murder, was probably expelled in early
540.

[AM 6034, AD 541/2]

Justinian, 15th year
Chosroes, 17th year
Vigilius, 4th year
Menas, 5th year
John, 8th year

Paul, 2nd year
Ephraim, 15th year

Itin this year, in October of the 5th indiction the great plague broke
out in Byzantium. u” In the same period the feast of the Presentation
of the Lord was first celebrated in Byzantium on 2 February.” On
16 August of the same 5th indiction, a great earthquake occurred in
Constantinople,* and churches, houses, and the city wall collapsed,
especially the part near the Golden Gate. The spear held by the
statue which stands in the Forum of the holy Constantine fell down,
as well as the right arm of the statue of the Xerolophos. Many died
and there was great fear. 0°

" Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 113. 5-7; cf. Mai. 482. 4-11. > Cramer, Eccl. Hist. no.
16-18. © Mai. 486. 23-487. 5, Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 113. 24-30.

" For a full description of the plague, Prok. BP ii. 22. The effects of the
plague were far-reaching, probably more so than any other single event of
the 6th cent. See P. Allen, Byz 48 (1979), 5-20. Theophanes' lack of aware-
ness is notable if hardly surprising.

* i.e. of the meeting of Christ and Symeon.

3 This appears to be the same as the earthquake described at AM 6046. The
date here has the support of Cramer Eccl. Hist., while Mai. supports the date
at 6046. The statue from the Forum of Constantine is mentioned by Mai.

322

Chronogra phia AM6024

but not by Theophanes at AM 6046 (but he does mention it in the earthquake
of AM 6041). The ecclesiastical calendars include a commemoration for 16
Aug. (see B. Croke, Byz 51 (1981), 125-6), but that day also fits the descrip-
tion at AM 6046.

[am 6035, ad 542/3]

Justinian, 16th year

Chosroes, 18 th year

Vigilius, 5th year

Menas, 6thyear

John, 9 th year

Zollos, bishop of Alexandria (7 years), 1st year
Ephraim, 16th year

In this year’ the emperor of the Auxoumite Indians** of the Jews
came to fight one another for the following reason. The emperor of
the Auxoumites dwells further inland with regard to Egypt "of the
Jewish religion’. Roman traders travel across Homerite [territory] to
the Auxoumite and the inland areas of the Indians and Ethiopians.
When some traders crossed into Homerite borders, as usual,
Damianos,* the emperor of the Homerites, killed them and took
away all their goods, saying, 'The Romans wrong the Jews in their
own country and kill them.’ As a result the trade of the inland
Indians of the Auxoumite region ceased. The emperor of the
Auxoumites, Adad,*+ announced his resentment to the Homerite,
saying, 'You have harmed my empire and inland India by preventing
Roman traders from reaching us.’ Great enmity developed and war
broke out between them. When they were about to begin the war,
Adad, emperor of the Auxoumites made a vow saying, If 1 conquer
the Homerite, I shall become a Christian, since I am fighting on
behalf of Christians.’ With the help of God, he gained the victory by
force of arms and captured Damianos, their emperor, alive and also
took their land and their palace. Adad, emperor of the Auxoumites,
thanked God and sent a request to the emperor Justinian to obtain a
bishop and clergy, so that after instruction he could become a
Christian. Justinian rejoiced greatly at this and ordered that
whichever bishop they wanted be given them. The legates, after
thorough inquiries, chose John the custodian of St John's in
Alexandria the Great, a devout man, virgin and 62 years old. They
took him back with them to their own country and to Adad their
emperor! I* and so became believers in Christ and were baptized ‘all
of them".!!°

323

223

424
224

am6024 Chronographia

"Mai. 433. 3-434. 18; cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 183-9. > CE J*h- Nik. go. 78.

* The date is a problem. Mal.'s date is not precise but is either 527/8 or
528/9. Mal.'s account is given at p. 433 and he earlier refers to Andas as the
current king of the Axoumites at p. 429. He had reached 529 by p. 428 (end
of the 7th ind.) but after his account of this incident he reverts to 528 at
p. 435 (Apr. of the 6th ind., though this date is omitted in the Bonn edn.).
Theophanes, with nothing else to report for this year, has apparently
accepted Mal.'s date as the 6th indiction (certainly so according to Stein, Bz
ii. 104 n. r, who insists that Mal.'s date is not 528/9 but 527/8), but moved
the event forward a full indiction cycle. For parallel cases see AM 6036 and
6059 and also Bury, wre i. 289 n. 2 and 435 n. 5.

The incident, however, must actually have occurred rather earlier, since
the names of the respective kings in Justinian's reign are Elesboas and
Esimiphaios. As Elesboas had been on the throne since the beginning of
Justin's reign (cf. AM 6015), Bury, #zre ii. 322, suggests the incident
‘belongs to the reign of Zeno or Anastasius',- see also Z. Rubin in French and
Lightfoot, eds The Eastern Frontier of the Roman Empire, 383- 420.
Anastasios did send a bishop to the Himyarites (Theod. Lect. 559, Hansen,
157.15-16). The Axoumites were certainly Christian by the reign of Justin.

For another large error on Ethiopian dates, see AM 6064. For Homerites
(Yemeni) and Axoumites (Axum), see AM 6015.

* Combefis suggested the lacuna be filled with 'and the emperor of the
Homerites’.

3 'Dimnos' in Mai. 4 'Andas' in Mai.

am 6036 [ad 543/4]

Year of the divine Incarnation 536

Justinian, emperor of the Romans (38 years), 17th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (48 years), 19th year
Vigilius, bishop of Rome (18 years), 6th year

Menas, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 7th year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (11 years), 10th year

Zoilos, bishop of Alexandria (7 years), 2nd year
Ephraim, bishop of Antioch (18 years), 17th year

IllIn this year' on Sunday 6 September of the 7th indiction, a great
earthquake occurred throughout the world. Half of Kyzikos fell. In
the same year the great bronze column called Augusteus near the
palace was completed. The equestrian statue of the emperor
Justinian was put on top. u™

IlIn the same year’? there turned up from Italy a man called
Andrew, who travelled from village to village, and he had a dog that
was light-coloured and blind, which, at his command did amazing

Chronogra _ phia AM 6024

things. Andrew would stand in the market, with the crowd sur-
rounding him, and unknown to the dog, take gold, silver, and iron
rings from the bystanders. He would place them on the ground,
cover them with earth, and give an order to the dog, which would
then pick up and return to each person his own ring. It could also
sort out a jumbled mass of coins according to the names of the vari-
ous emperors. Finally, when asked to point out from among a crowd
of men and women those who were pregnant, fornicators, adulterers,
misers, or generous, it would point these all out accurately. So they
said, ‘It has the spirit of Python'.I\?

a Mai. 482. 12-16. 6 Mai. 453. 15-454. 4-

" The dates for this paragraph are as in Mai., apart from ‘Sunday 6', which
is accurate for 5 43 and which presumably also came from Mai.

* Mai. added 'The statue had been of the emperor Arkadios, having pre-
viously stood on a pedestal in the Forum Tauri’. For a description of the
statue, see Prok. Aed. i. 2. 5-12.

3 Mal.'s date is 530, but is not given precisely. As with the Ethiopian war
described in AM 6035, Theophanes may have tried to post-date this by a full
indiction cycle.

In cod. Paris, gr. 1710 this story is given in a fuller form (de Boor, ii.
370-1):

‘There turned up a man called Andrew who travelled from village to vil-
lage. He had with him a light-coloured dog of medium size, with cropped
ears and tail. This dog, when ordered by his trainer, would do some amaz-
ing things. Unbeknown to the dog, the man would take from bystanders
gold and silver rings and coins of different emperors. He would place them
on the ground and cover them with dung. He would then command the
dog to come and pick up from the earth each man's ring and give it to him.
Everyone was astonished. Then he would say to the same dog, 'Bring me
the coin of the emperor Leo.' After a search the dog would pick it up in his
mouth and give it. Then he would say, 'Give me Zeno's,' and he gave it;
likewise he brought the coin of any other emperor when so instructed.
Furthermore, in the presence of a crowd of men and women, he would
point out women who were pregnant, fornicators, adulterers, the gener-
ous, and the misers, all quite accurately. In the case of pregnant women
he would guess whether they carried a male or a female child and they
gave birth [as predicted]. So everyone was amazed and many people said
that the dog had the spirit of Python. He was also defective in his eyes.’

[AM 6037, AD 544/5]

Justinian, 18th year
Chosroes, 20th year

225

AM 6024 Chronographia

Vigilius, 7th year
Menas, 8 th year
John, nth year
Zoilos, 3rd year
Ephraim, 18 th year

I IIn this year the sea advanced on [the coast of] Thrace by four miles’
and covered it in the territories of Odyssos and Dionysopolis and
also at Aphrodision.* Many were drowned in the waters. By God's
command the sea then retreated to its own place. °

° Cf. Geo. Mon. 628. 14-17.

* There is no clear source for this incident and the only parallel is in Geo.
Mon. Possibly the passage came from the original Mai., following 481. 12
where a frenzied woman predicts the rising of the sea in three days' time.
Mal.'s date for that is 541/2.

* Varna in Bulgaria.

[am 6038, ad 545/6]

Justinian, 19th year

Chosroes, 21st year

Vigilius, 8th year

Menas, 9 th year

Peter, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 1st year
Zoilos, 4th year

Domnus, bishop of Antioch (14 years), 1st year

[ln this year’ there was a shortage of corn and wine IF and much bad
weather. There was a great earthquake in Byzantium,” I land an error
occurred with regard to [the computation of] holy Easter. The people
began abstaining from meat on 4 February,’ but the emperor ordered
that meat be sold for another week. And all the butchers slaughtered
and put meat up for sale, and no one bought or ate any of it. Easter
was celebrated as the emperor commanded,!\” so the people contin-
ued fasting for an additional week. II

"Mai. 482. 18. b Mai. 482. 19-483. 2; cf. Ps.-Dion. a.856-7, Mich. Syr. ii.
271. ¢ Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 271, Geo. Mon. 644. 16-18, Kedr. 658. 1-2, Nik. Kali,
xvii. 32, 304A-B.

* Mai. only places this between 544 and 546, but Theophanes'’ date is con-
firmed by the account of Easter, which follows immediately in Mai.

* There is no other evidence for this earthquake but it is supported by the
apparent accuracy of Theophanes' other statements for this year.

326

Chronogra phia AM6024

3 i.e. from 9 weeks before Easter instead of 8 weeks. In 546, 4 Feb. fell on

a Sunday and Easter was on 8 Apr. Mal.'s version is: 'In the month of
November an error occurred over the Sunday before Lent’. The clearest and
most detailed account is in Mich. Syr. ii. 2ji (tr. in Mai. Trans., p. 287): 'An
error occurred over the beginning of Lent. Some had begun to fast two weeks
previously, others a week after. In the imperial city the emperor and
the nobles who had returned a week after the fast had begun, decided that
the fast should not start until the following week. The emperor ordered the
butchers to sell meat but they did not wish to slaughter the sheep and cat-
tle and, apart from a few gluttons, the people considered this meat carrion.
Some threw chalk and dust over it and spoilt it to prevent it being sold. The
emperor compelled the butchers to slaughter more beasts and paid them out
of the public treasury.’ Stein, BE ii. 639, believed that Justinian, to please the
pope, had ordered (in Nov.) a change from the Alexandrine computation
(making Easter fall on 8 Apr.) to the Roman (with Easter on 1 Apr.), and that
the populace in protest began their fast a week before Lent. The evidence in
fact points in the reverse direction, with the emperor delaying both Lent and
Easter by a week, so that the protest was at the transfer from the Roman to
the Alexandrine computation.

[am 6039, ad 546/7]

Justinian, 20th year
Chosroes, 22nd year
Vigilius, 9th year
Menas, iothyear
Peter, 2nd year
Zoilos, 5th year
Domnus, 2nd year

IlIn this year’ Rome was captured by the Goths. Pope Vigilius
arrived in Constantinople!\* and after being received with great hon-
our by the emperor, he promised to unite the catholic Church and
anathematize the Three Chapters.* He was so greatly honoured by
the emperor that he became puffed up and excommunicated Menas,
bishop of Constantinople, for four months by way of penance.*
Menas replied by imposing the same penance on Vigilius. The
emperor, annoyed by Vigilius because of the penance and the delay
in fulfilling his promises about uniting the Church, dispatched men
to arrest him.* Vigilius, fearing the emperor's wrath, sought refuge
in the sanctuary of Sergius the martyr? in the monastery of
Hormisdas. As he was being dragged from there, he held on to the
columns supporting the altar, and brought them down, for he was a
large heavy man. The emperor repented and received Pope Vigilius
who, in turn, at the request of the Augusta Theodora, received

327

226

am6024 Chronographia

Menas, patriarch of Constantinople, on 29 June, the day of the Holy
Apostles.1\?°

IlIn the same year on 11 May, on the Saturday of holy Pentecost,
when the birthday horse-races’ were taking place, a fight broke out
between the two factions. The emperor dispatched the excubitors
and armed soldiers who killed many of them, while many others
were choked to death while fleeing. Others were cut down and there
was a heavy death-toll.I I

"Mai. 483. 3-5. b Cf. Nik. Kail. xvii. 26, 281-284A, Mai. 484. n-13, 485.
4-7, 483. 14-16. ¢ Mai. 483. 9-13.

* Mai. also dates both the capture of Rome (Feb.) and Vigilius' arrival to
547 but in the reverse order. Marcell. com. addit. dates the capture of Rome
to 17 Dec. 546 and Vigilius' arrival to 25 Jan. 547. Vigilius had left Rome on
22 Nov. 545 during Totila's siege and spent the next months in Sicily. It is
debatable whether he left voluntarily or was abducted on imperial orders.
See Bury, HLRE? ii. 384-5, Stein, BE ii. 640-1, both suggesting the former
while the Roman populace believed the latter.

* Justinian's edict in three chapters was issued at some point between 543
and 546 and aimed at showing that the synod of Chalcedon gave no support
to Nestorianism. This involved condemning three 5th-cent. theologians
(long dead) and their works attacking Cyril of Alexandria, and subsequently
the Three Chapters came to mean the three theologians and their con-
demned works. The four eastern patriarchs signed it under pressure with
misgivings and on condition that the pope be consulted. Vigilius, who
seemed to have difficulty understanding the problems, vacillated consider-
ably in a struggle lasting several years. This led to Justinian issuing a revised
version of the Three Chapters in July 551. Theophanes' version is repeated
by Nik. Kail, in the 14th cent, though Nik. Kali, may have taken it from a
common source. Theophanes appears to have combined several scattered
references in Mai, though the narrative of neither Theophanes nor Mai. is
satisfactory. See Stein, BE ii. 638-54, E. K. Chrysos, 'H 'EKKXTJOIAATIXR)
TToXiriKTj TOV Jovonviavov (Thessaloniki, 1969), 82-5.

3 This may refer to this year, but more probably refers to a second excom-
munication on 14 Aug. 551, which was followed by the attempted arrest.

« In 551-

> Other sources say, with more probability, that it was the neighbouring
church of St Peter and St Paul.

° In 547. Stein, ££11.642 n. 5, argues from Mai. 483.14-16 that in the orig-
inal Mai. the sentence ended at 29 June and was followed by ‘and he went
off to the commemoration of the Holy Apostles at the Periteichisma', which
Theophanes has abbreviated. 30 June is the festal day of the Holy Apostles
and commemorations began on the eve.

7 i.e. the annual celebration of the founding of Constantinople (11 May
330). 1 May was the Saturday of Pentecost in 547, so confirming the date.

328

Chronogra_phia AM 6024

[AM 6040, AD 547/8]

Justinian, 21st year
Chosroes, 23rd year
Vigilius, 10th year
Menas, nth year
Peter, 3rd year
ZOUQS, 6th year
Domnus, 3rd year

IlIn this year’ there was a succession of earthquakesu° and heavy
rain, as, for instance, the great earthquake in February, where every-
one despaired and became very frightened and went on litanies* and
begged God to be saved from the impending dangers.I 1°

IlIn the same year, in June of the nth indiction, the empress
Theodora died piously. 1°

"Mai. 483.21. > Cf. Mai. 483. 22-484. 2. © Mai. 484. 4-5; cf. Cramer,
Eccl. Hist. 111. 10—11, 113. 8-9, Jac. Edess. a.227, Mich. Syr. ii. 243.

Theophanes' material for this year is again derived from Mai., who,
however, appears to date these events to the same year as those recorded by
Theophanes for AM 6039. The reference to Feb. (not in our text of Mai.) may
have indicated to Theophanes that these events belonged to the next indic-
tion and so led him to correct Mai. Alternatively our Baroccianus MS of Mai.
may be corrupt here, in which case Theophanes may have simply preserved
for us the original Mai. Mal.'s infrequent use of indiction dates (but see
below, n. 3 on Theodora's death) suggests that this is Theophanes'’ own
deduction.

> Cf. AM 6046.

3 Mai. has indiction 10 but Theophanes' date is right, confirmed by Prok.
BG iii. 30. 4 which states that Theodora was empress for 21 years and 3
months. (She was crowned Augusta in Apr. of 527.) Here again either the
original Mai. still preserved the, correct date which Theophanes has copied,
or Theophanes has corrected Mal.'s error. Cf. n. 1 above and AM 6041, nn. 1
and 3. In combination it appears more likely that Theophanes has altered
Mal.'s chronology.

[AM 6041, AD 548/9]

Justinian, 22nd year
Chosroes, 24th year
Vigilius, nth year
Menas, 12th year
Peter, 4th year

am 6024 Chronographia

Zoiilos, 7thyear
Domnus, 4th year

IIn this year’ there was much terrifying thunder and lightning, so
that many were struck by lightning while they slept. On St John's
day the thunder and lightning were so terrible that part of the col-
umn of the Xerolophos was sliced off,* as was the carved capital of
the same column. n° In July? there occurred a clash between the two
factions and the building known as [the house] of Pardos* was set on
fire. Many things were burned, that is from the bronze Tetrapylon to
the quarter known as Eleusia.*> There were also many murders. \°
During the [court's] residence at the Hebdomon,° the vestitores lost
the emperor's crown, whichwas found eight months later. One of its
pearls and all the remaining jewels were found safe in the same

place. 17

"Mai. 483. 22-484. 3. b Mai. 484. 6-8. © Mai. frag. Tusc. iv. 22-3.

" Mai. has placed this in June before Theodora's death. Theophanes, by
placing it after Theodora's death, has to date it to two years after the date of
his source.

* Cf. AM 6034.

3 In Mai. this occurs after Theodora's death and could belong to indiction
ro, rr, or 12. It does rather look as if Mai. has got a detailed record for indic-
tion ro with a succession of months, and perhaps lacks anything for indic-
tions ir and 12.

* The house of Pardos is only known from here and Mai.

° This is the only reference to Eleusia. The bronze Tetrapylon stood
between the Forum of Constantine and the Forum Tauri. See Mango,
Developpement, 3r.

® The term 7rpoxevaoj used here normally denoted the court's villegiature
in a suburban palace.

” The frag. Tusc. of Mai. (iv. 22-3) confirms Theophanes and adds that the
crown was found by the praetor, the comes known as Diapoundaristes.

AM 6042 [AD 549/50]

Year of the divine Incarnation 5 42

Justinian, emperor of the Romans (38 years), 23rd year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (48 years), 25th year
Vigilius, bishop of Rome (18 years), 12th year

Menas, bishop of Constantinople (16 years), 13th year
Peter, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 5th year
Apolinarios, bishop of Alexandria (19 years), 1st year
Domnus, bishop of Antioch (14 years), 5th year

330

Chzonogiaphia AM 6043

On 13 October of this year,’ while the races were being held, an
ambassador of the Indians” arrived in Constantinople with an ele-
phant and entered the Hippodrome.I\* In January, the name of
Menas, patriarch of Constantinople, was demoted, while that of
Vigilius was promoted to the first place in the diptychs.ll® In
March, the elephant broke out of its stable during the night, killed
many people and maimed others.I IS On 16 April, in the afternoon,
the partisans clashed during the chariot races, and many from both
factions died.!_ They went to the shops and stole whatever they
found. John, surnamed Kokkorobios, was prefect at the time.u°* On
Tuesday 28 June the consecration of [the church of] the Holy
Apostles took place and the deposition of the holy relics of the apos-
tles Andrew, Luke, and Timothy.’ Bishop Menas processed with the
holy relics, seated in the imperial jewel-encrusted golden carriage,
holding the three caskets of the holy apostles on his knees. In
this manner the consecration took place.

"Mai. 484. 9-10, fiag. Tusc. iv. 23. > Cf Mai. 484. n-13. © Mai. flag.
Tusc. iv. 23. 4 Mai. 484. 14-16, frag. Tusc. iv. 24. © Mai. frag. Tusc. iv.
24. / Mai. 484. 17-21, Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 113. 10-15; sf- Nik. Kail. xvii. 26

(284A], Mich. Syr. ii. 269.

* Mai. frag. Tuse, iv. 23, confirms Theophanes' date.

* i.e. Ethiopians.

3 Theophanes’ text is confirmed by Mai. fiag. tse. iv. 23, as against the
Baroccianus manuscript, which implies that the names of both Vigilius and
Menas were erased. Stein, zz ii. 645 n. 3 suggests that Vigilius’ promotion
was to console him (and keep him favourably disposed) after he had been
strongly criticized by his Roman supporters in Constantinople for support-
ing the Three Chapters.

* Again the details in Theophanes (‘d' and 'e’) are preserved in Mai. frag.
Tusc. iv. 24, but not in the Baroccianus.

> Justinian knocked down the original 4th-cent. church as it had fallen
into disrepair, and rebuilt it. See Prok. ea i. 4, Evagr. iv. 31. Late sources
attribute the rebuilding to Theodora (work no doubt had begun before her
death). The relics of Timothy had been deposited in the original church in
356, and those of Luke and Andrew in 357.

Ecc, Hist, adds ‘another golden carriage went ahead with the luggage’
(aSeorpdrov, ‘luggage’ according to Stephanus; ‘horse-drawn’ according to
Sophocles).

[am 6043, ad 55°/I]

Justinian, 24th year
Chosroes, 26 th year

227

228

AM 6024 Chronographia

Vigilius, 13th year
Menas, 14th year
Peter, 6th year
Apolinarios, 2nd year
Domnus, 6th year

Illn April’ of this year, of the 14th indiction, Narses, the cubicular-
ius was sent to Rome with instructions to make war on the Goths
who had regained Rome. For after Belisarius had won the city, the
Goths had risen up and recaptured it.ll** On 9 July’? there was a
severe and frightful earthquake throughout Palestine, Arabia,
Mesopotamia, Syria, and Phoenicia. The following cities suffered:
Tyre, Sidon, Berytos, Tripolis, and Byblos, and a great many people
perished therein. In the city of Botrys, a large piece of the mountain
called Lithoprosopon, which lies close to the sea, was broken off and
thrown into the sea, so forming a harbour big enough for many large
ships to moor there- for previously that city had not had a harbour.
The emperor sent money for restoring what had fallen in these
cities. The sea retreated one mile towards the deep and many ships
were lost. Later, at God's command, it returned to its own bed.I

"Mai. 484. 22-485. 3, frag. Tuse. iv. 26. > Mai. 485. 8-23; cf. Mich. Syr. ii.
244, 246-7; Chi. 724, 100. 4-5.

" Mai. frag. Tusc. iv. 26 gives the date as April of the 13th indiction, and
Mal.'s indiction dates (esp. those from the Tusculan frags.) should normally
be preferred. In that case Narses went to Italy in 550 and not 551 (as Bury,
Stein, and PLRE maintain, all ultimately dependent on O. Korbs,
Untersuchungen zur ostgotischen Geschichte, vol. i (Jena, 1913), 81, 84-6)
and the chronology of Narses' campaign in Italy needs revision. Prok.'s
detailed narrative, however, linking Narses' movements with the death of
Germanus, provides strong support for 551. Assuming Theoph.'s source
here did read indiction 13 (rightly or wrongly), he will have changed the
indiction number because he had already reached June of the 13 thindiction
(the dedication of the Holy Apostles) and so puts a following April into the
next year. Cf. AM 6040 for the same technique.

* This is confused. Belisarius had originally captured Rome in Dec. 536.
The Goths recaptured it in Dec. 546 but lost it again to Belisarius early in
547. Totila had recaptured Rome in Jan. 550.

3 Frag. Tusc. iv. 27-8 gives the date as 6 July of the r4th indiction.
Agathias records an earthquake in Alexandria too for 551.

[AM 6044, AD 551/2]

Justinian, 25 th year
Chosroes, 27th year

332

Chronogra phia AM 6024

Vigilius, 14th year
Menas, 15th year
Peter, 7th year
Apolinarios, 3rd year
Domnus, 7 th year

Illn this year,’ during September of the 15th indiction, the consecra-
tion of St Eirene across the water at Sykai took place.* The holy
relics were brought from the Great Church by two patriarchs, Menas
of Constantinople and Apolinarios of Alexandria. They both sat in
the imperial carriage holding the sacred relics on their knees. n%
They went as far as the Perama, then crossed over and the emperor
met them. They then inaugurated the church of the holy martyr
Eirene.

llln the same year the harbour of the Hebdomon was cleaned. u*

IlIn the same year Menas, bishop of Constantinople, died.’
Eutychios, the apokrisiarios of Amaseia, a monk and presbyter of
the monastery at Amaseia, replaced him on the same day,’ while
Menas' body was still lying in the sanctuary. I I°

Illn August’ news of victory came from Rome, [sent by] the cubic-
ularius Narses, who was exarch of the Romans. He had clashed in
battle with Totila, king of the Goths, conquered him by arms, taken
Rome, killed Totila and sent back to Constantinople Totila's blood-
stained garments! " and bejewelled cap. These were thrown at the
emperor's feet during the secretum. ‘It is necessary to add
Anthimos' one year to the tenure of the patriarch Menas, to obtain
a total of sixteen years]®

° Mai. 486. 1-7, Cramer, Eccl AHist. 113. 15-19. b’ Mai. 486. 8-9.
<= Mai. 486. 10-13; cf. Nik. Kail. xvii. %@& 284B. 4 Mai. 486. 14-18.

* Mai. confirms the date.

* "Across the Golden Horn to Iustinianai’ (Mai.). Prok. 4ea i. 7. 1. says
Justinian rebuilt the church decorating it so beautifully that he could not
describe it. In the rebuilding the relics of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste were
discovered which cured Jusinian of gout. M. E. Mullett, 'Romanos's
Kontakia on the Forty Martyrs: Date and Setting’ (forthcoming) suggests
that Romanos, Kontakion on the Forty Martyrs I, WaS written for this occa-
sion.

3 Following J. Strzygowski, Orient oder Rom (Leipzig, 1901), 85 ff., it has
often been claimed that this incident was depicted on the Trier ivory of the
translation of relics, but the presence of an empress on the ivory makes this
unlikely (Theodora had died in 548). Amongst other suggestions regarding
the scene depicted on the ivory is that of K. G. Holum and G. Vikan, pop
33 Ug79)/ 115 f&/ who link it with the translation of the arm of St Stephen
mentioned under AM 5920.

333

229

am 6024 Chronographia

4 For 'of the Hebdomon’, Mai. has ‘near the palace of the Secundianai'’.

> Mai. provides a precise date, August of the 15 th indiction.

° Grumel, who gives 24 Aug. for the death of Menas, can only put
Eutychios' appointment as at the end of August. Theophanes thus helps
establish the precise date.

7 Mai. only has ‘in that month’.

® Deleted by de Boor because it contradicts the chronological table which
gives Anthimos his year separately at AM 6029. But this assumes generously
that Theophanes consistently reconciled his narrative with his chronologi-
cal information.

[AM 6045, AD 552/3]

Justinian, 26thyear

Chosroes, 28th year

Vigilius, 1sth year

Eutychios, bishop of Constantinople (13 years), 1st year
Peter, 8th year

Apolinarios, 4th year

Domnus, 8thyear

Illn this year the Fifth holy and ecumenical Synod was convened’ to
oppose Origen's aberration, Didymos the blind, and Euargios for
their pagan nonsense’ and, once again, the "headless* Chapters. I\’
Vigilius of Rome did not attend with those who had gathered.’ After
many matters had been raised, the emperor dismissed him and he
died in Hlyricum‘ while travelling back to Rome.

Cf. Chron. Pasch. 635. 9-17, Geo. Mon. 629. 1-630. 5.

* Given Mal.'s lack of interest in theological and ecclesiastical issues,
Theophanes has probably been forced to turn here to his unidentified eccle-
siastical source. The council opened on 5 May 553 with the issue of the
Three Chapters still not settled. 166 bishops attended, nearly all from the
East. The Three Chapters were condemned and their authors anathema-
tized. Vigilius’ name was removed from the diptychs and he was exiled
briefly until he agreed to accept the synod and annul his former decisions on
the Three Chapters (26 Feb. 554).

* Didymos (313-98), in fact a staunch supporter of dyophysitism and
Nicaea, and Evagnus Ponticus (344-99 = Euargios) were condemned for
their supposed Origenism (Origen, AD *5-254).

3 Vigilius was, of course, still in Constantinople. (Cf. AM 6039, 6042.)

* More probably at Syracuse, 7 June 555 /Lib. Pont., Vigilius, c. 9). Note
the contradiction with the chronological rubrics according to which Vigilius
remains alive until AM 6048.

334

Chronogra phia AM 6046

[AM 6046, AD 553/4]

Justinian, 27th year
Chosroes, 29 th year
Vigilius, 16 th year
Eutychios, 2nd year
Peter, 9 thyear
Apolinarios, 5 th year
Domnus, 9 th year

1lOn 15 August of this year, in the 2nd indiction,’ in the middle of
the night as Sunday was dawning, there was a terrible earthquake. It
damaged many homes, baths, churches, and part of the walls of
Constantinople, particularly near the Golden Gate. Many died.
Much of Nicomedia also collapsed. The earth tremors lasted for 40
days. 1* For a while men were overcome by contrition, went on lita-
nies and frequented churches, but after God's mercy had returned,
they lapsed again to worse habits. The commemoration of this earth-
quake takes place each year in the Campus,” with the people per-
forming a litany. 1

The Lazi, who had rejected Roman authority because of the
avarice and injustices of their ruler John,* and gone over to the
Persians,’ joined the Romans again at this time. The Romans cap-
tured the fort of Petra and drove out the Persians.°

"Mai. 486. 23-487. 9. Cf. Cramer, Eccl Hist. 113. 24-30, Mich. Syr. ii. 245.
> Cf. Ps.-Dion. ii. 489, Mich. Syr. ii. 249.

" Agathias also records an earthquake in Constaninople for 554. The date
comes from Mai., but Theophanes appears to be dealing with the same
earthquake at AM 6034 and possibly but improbably 6047. As 15 Aug. was a
Saturday in 554, this must be the correct year.

* Cf. John of Ephesos, 241: 'The commemoration of the earthquake takes
place in the great, very wide campus, seven miles from Constantinople. On
the very days on which they occurred each year, almost the whole city goes
out there and carries out many religious ceremonies.’ Cf. AM 5930, n. 3, and
6141. The commemoration is noted in the ecclesiastical calendars for 16
Aug. (Syn. CP, 904. 2, P. 32; H Menologio di Basilio IT (Cod. Vat. Gi. 1613)
(Turin, 1907), i. 372. 13-374. 26).

3 The parallels for 'b' are all from Syriac sources, but they probably reflect
the original Mai.

* The Roman commander, John Tzibos, established a monopoly on corn
and salt by acting as a middle man between the Lazi and traders. It was 'the
only practicable way of imposing a tax—as a necessary and just compensa-
tion for the defence of the country, notwithstanding the facts that it was
garrisoned solely in Roman interests and that the garrison itself was unwel-

33-5

230

am 6024 Chronographia

come to the natives’ (Bury, HLRE’ ii. ioi; see also now Braund, Georgia,
293-5)-

> Gubazes, king of the Lazi, invited Khusro in 541 to recover Lazica.
Khusro captured Petra and installed a Persian garrison but retired after
learning that Belisarius was about to invade Assyria. (Petra, on the Black
Sea, between the mouths of the Akampsis and Phasis, had been developed
by Justinian shortly before 535 as a powerful fortified city which he had
renamed Justimanopolis.) See Braund, Georgia, 295-7.

° In about 549 Gubazes, angered by the Persians, sought Justinian's par-
don and support. Dagisthaios was sent with a force of 7,000 to Lazica. In 5 50
he was replaced by Bessas, who captured Petra in 551. The truce was in 557,
cf. AM 6055, n. 22. On these events, see Braund, Georgia, 297-311.

AM 6047 [AD $54/5]

Year of the divine Incarnation 547

Justinian, emperor of the Romans (38 years), 28th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (48 years), 30th year
Vigilius, bishop of Rome (18 years), 17th year
Eutychios, bishop of Constantinople (13 years), 3rd year
Peter, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 10th year
Apolinarios, bishop of Alexandria (19 years), 6th year
Domnus, bishop of Antioch (14 years), 10th year

On u1 July of this year, in the 3rd indiction, at the commemoration
of St Euphemia and the Definition,’ there was a great earthquake.
On the 19th of the same month there was terrible thunder and light-
ning and a violent south-west wind, as a result of which the cross
that stood inside the Rhesion gate’ fell down.

' The story of the miracle of St Euphemia, although first attested by
Constantine of Tios in about 800, probably developed early from a rather lit-
eral interpretation of the metaphysical language in the letter from the Synod
of Chalcedon in 451 to Pope Leo. See R Halkin, Euphemie de Chalcedoine
(Brussels, 1965), 95 n. 1. According to the legend, the authorities at the
synod, which was held in the church of St Euphemia, decided to place a copy
of their definition of the faith on her tomb to see if the Lord would reveal
whether the definition was according to His will. The martyr came to life,
stretched out and took the document, blessed it and gave it back with her
approval clear.

II July is St Euphemia's day. The account is perhaps from Theophanes'
unidentified ecclesiastical history source, which probably did not provide
any indication of the year. This may strengthen suspicion that the earth-
quake, otherwise unattested, is a doublet of that of AM 6046 (which Stein, BE
ii. 828, suggested was a doublet of AM 6034), but it is unsufficient evidence
to reject Theophanes' statement.

336

Chronographia AM 6048

* Also known as the Rhegion or Polyandriou (now Yeni Mevlevihane
Kapisi).

[am 6048, ad 555/6]

Justinian, 2,9th year
Chosroes, 31st year
Vigilius, 18th year
Eutychios, 4th year
Peter, nth year
Apolinarios, 7th year

Domnus, nth year

IIIn July of this year, the 4th indiction,’ the Jews and Samaritans
staged a revolt at Caesarea in Palestine.» Combining into a
Green-Blue faction, they attacked the Christians of that city, killed
many of them, burned their churches, murdered Stephen, the prefect
of the city,* in the praetorium and looted his property. His wife went
up to Constantinople and approached the emperor. He ordered
Amantius the magister militum, to go down to Palestine and inves-
tigate Stephen's murder.* Having found [the culprits] Amantius
hanged some, beheaded some, mutilated some, and fined others. So
great fear prevailed in all the eastern parts. In December there
occurred a plague among men in various cities, particularly affecting
children.*> Similarly in May there was a _ shortage of bread in
Byzantium. The people in their distress shouted to the emperor,
"Master, [let us have] plentiful food in the city!’ They cursed the pre-
fect at the birthday celebrations,° while Persian ambassadors were
present in the Hippodrome. The emperor was annoyed and ordered
the prefect Musonius to arrest those who had done this, and they
were punished. They had vexed the emperor because the people had
shouted at him in the presence of the Persian ambassador. There was
plenty of wine and salted meat and everything else, but there was a
shortage of corn and barley.’ On Thursday 13 July,® there was terri-
fying lightning and thunder resulting in many casualties.\\° There
was also heavy rain, so that after the long drought the land was

soaked.

" Mai. 487. 10-488. 14; cf. Ps.-Dion. a.863, Mich. Syr. ii. 262.

" The date is from Mai. Stein, BE ii. 374 n. 2, argues that Mai. is wrong
and that the correct date is AM 6047, July of 3rd indiction, since Mich. Syr.
dates the revolt to Justinian's 28th year, and Mal.'s order of events (repeated
by Theophanes) of July, December, May, and July again, implies the earlier

337

231

AM 6051 Chronographia

July is in the previous indiction. But indiction 4 is given in both the
Baroccianus manuscript and in De insid This testimony is to be preferred
to Mich. Syr., while Mai. does not always follow the succession of months.

* Cf. the Samaritan revolt of 529 @M 6021 ‘h’). Generally Justinian's
tough legislation against Samaritans had not been applied severely, and in
551 itwas softened (Nov. 129, 15 June 551).

3 Proconsul of Palestine I. Mai., at pe insid 48 (173. 19), has proconsul.
Mai. 487. 14 has governor.

4 Presumably the same Amantius who is named in the v. sym. mun. 161,
which refers to his reputation in the East for persecuting wrongdoers,
including pagans, Manichees, astrologers, and heretics. Cf. pire iii. 53,
Amantius 2.

° The reference to children is not in our surviving text of Mai. Cf. AM
6050, where Theophanes makes the same point. There were many recur-
rences of the plague (cf. AM 6043) during the 6th cent. For this year it is also
recorded by the Arabic historian Agapius of Mendibj, po 8 (1912), 413.
Other recorded occurrences after 542 are in 552/3, 553/4, 555 (here), 558,
560/1, 567/8, 568/9, 572/3, 580/1, 583/4, 585/6, 592, 598/9- See P. Allen, ay:
49 (i979), 5-20, esp. 13.

® ie. the celebration of the foundation of Constantinople (11 May 330).

7 According to Mai. the shortage lasted for 3 months.

8 Stein, ae ii. 374 n. 2, claims one of these figures must be wrong, but 13
July did fall on a Thursday in 556.

[AM 6049, AD 556/7]

Justinian, 30th year
Chosroes, 32nd year
Pelagios, bishop of Rome (5 years), 1st year’
Eutychios, 5th year
Peter, 12th year
Apolinarios, 8thyear
Domnus, 12th year
In this year on 6 November on the Commemoration of the Dust,
there died Timothy, the exarch of the monasteries and abbot of the
monastery of Dalmatos.* Anthimos, an anchorite of the same
monastery, replaced him.

IIFire appeared in the sky in the shape of a spear, from north to
west.? On Monday 16 April,‘ there was a frightening earthquake that
caused no damage.II*

2 Mai. 488. 15-19.

* Pelagios was pope 16 Apr. 556-4 Mar. 561.
* Probably from Theophanes' church history source. Cf. AM 605 I. For the
Commemoration of the Dust, cf. AM 5966.

338-

Chionogra phia AM 6050

3 Mai. gives the date as Nov. of 5th indiction.
4 16 Apr. did fall on a Monday in 557.

am 6050 [ad 557/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 550

Justinian, emperor of the Romans (38 years), 31st year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (48 years), 33rd year
Pelagios, bishop of Rome (5 years), 2nd year

Eutychios, bishop of Constantinople (13 years), 6th year
Peter, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 13th year
Apolinarios, bishop of Alexandria (19 years), 9th year
Domnus, bishop of Antioch (14 years), 13 th year

In this year, on Friday 19 October of the 6th indiction there was a
great earthquake, just as Saturday was dawning.’ 1On 14 Decem-
ber,” there was another very frightening earthquake, which damaged
the two walls of Constantinople, both the Constantinian and the
one built by Theodosios. In particular, there collapsed churches and
the area beyond the Hebdomon, namely St Samuel,*? the Holy
Mother of God of Petalas,* St Vincent,’ and many church altars and
ciboria between the Golden Gate and Rhesion.° There was no place
or suburban estate which did not suffer damage from the terrible
threat of the earthquake. Rhegion’ suffered so badly that it was
unrecognizable. The churches of St Stratonikos and of St
Kallinikos,® both in Rhegion, collapsed to the ground. The porphyry
column, which stood in front of the palace of Iucundianae’ with the
statue on top of it, collapsed and was driven eight feet into the
ground. The statue of the emperor, Arkadios,’° which stood to the
left of the arch of the Tauros, also fell. There were many casualties
in the collapsed buildings, though some were rescued even two or
three days after they had been trapped in the ruins. It was reported
that the same thing had happened in other cities. No man in that
generation on earth could remember so great and terrible an earth-
quake. For the love of man the earth continued to shake by day and
night for ten days, and for a while men went on litanies out of con-
trition, but after experiencing God's love, they lapsed again to worse
habits." The emperor did not wear his crown for forty days,” and
even on the holy birth of Christ he processed to church without it. n°
He also stopped the customary luncheons in the hall of the Nineteen
Couches” and gave the money saved from this to the poor. IK

At the same time the strange race of the so-called Avars reached
Byzantium and everyone in the city thronged to gaze at them, as

339

232

AM6051 Chronographia

they had never seen such a people. They wore their hair very long at
the back, tied with ribbons and plaited. The rest of their dress was
like that of the other Huns. They had come as fugitives from their
own country to Scythia and Mysia and sent envoys to Justinian ask-
ing to be admitted. 11°*

Illn February a bubonic plague broke out, particularly among the
young, so that the living were too few to bury the dead. The plague
raged from February till July. 1°

"Mai. 488. 20-489. 10, Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 113. 31-114. 9- cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 246.
> Cf. Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 114. 7-9, Geo. Mon. 642. 20-2. © Mai. 489, 11-12,
Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 114. 10-13. d Mai. 489. 15-18.

" There is no other evidence for this earthquake, but, as 19 Oct. did fall
on Friday in 557, Theophanes is almost certainly right.

* Mai. only has ‘December of 6th indiction’. Theophanes’ date is con-
firmed by the ecclesiastical calendars and Eccl. Hist, with the earthquake
being commemorated each year. See B. Croke, Byz 51 (1981), 125-6.

3 Built after the translation of his relics to Constantinople at the begin-
ning of the 5th cent. There is no further mention of it, so the church may
never have been rebuilt.

* Only known from this passage.

> Presumably rebuilt since the synaxarion records that his feast day was
celebrated 'in the Campus’ on 22 Jan., but nothing else is known of it.

° A locality near Hebdomon (modern Bakirkoy).

7 Near modern Kiiijuk (Jekmece, about 14 km. from Constantinople. Cf.
AM 6083, 6094, n. 46.

5 Nothing more is known of either church.

° The palace (called Sekundianai by Mai.) was built by Justinian (Prok.
Aed. i. rr. 16).

* Not to be confused with the statue of Arkadios in the Xerolophos @M
5895 and struck by earthquake at AM 6041). But cf. AM 6036, n. 2.

"" Agath. who also records this earthquake, makes the same comment (v.
5- 4-5)-

* 30 days in Mai.

> A ceremonial dining-hall in the Great Palace.

“ The Avars, who had had some contact with the Roman Empire since
the late 5 th cent., had suffered a severe defeat by the Turks in 555. This led
to their movement towards the West. In 557 they approached Justinian's
cousin Justin, who was magister militum in Lazica, and who arranged for
this deputation to visit Constantinople. Justinian gave them splendid gifts
but did not offer them land or subsidies at this stage. See Men. Prot, frgs. 5,
8, Theoph. Sim. vii. 8. 1-4, Joh. Eph. HE vi. 24, p. 246, Bury, HLRE? ii.
314-16, Stein, BE ii. 541-3. (Mysia = Moesia.)

° Cf. AM 6048, where Theophanes also stresses its effect on the young.

340-

Chronographia AM6048

am 6051 [ad 558/9]

Year of the divine Incarnation 551

Justinian, emperor of the Romans (38 years), 32nd year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (48 years), 34th year
Pelagios, bishop of Rome (5 years), 3rd year

Eutychios, bishop of Constantinople (13 years), 7th year
Peter, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 14th year
Apolinarios, bishop of Alexandria (19 years), 10th year
Domnus, bishop of Antioch (14 years), 14th year

In this year’ on Tuesday, 7 May, in the 5 th hour, I Iwhile the dome of
the Great Church was being repaired (for it had been cracked during
the preceding earthquakes) and while the Isaurians* were working
on it, the eastern part of the vault of the holy sanctuary collapsed
and crushed the ciborium, the holy table, and the ambo. The engi-
neers were blamed because, to avoid expense, they had not secured
the suspension from beneath but had bored through the piers that
supported the dome, for which reason these had not held. Realizing
this, the most pious emperor erected new piers? to hold the dome,
which was built in such a way that it was raised twenty feet* higher
than the first building. n*

IlIn the same year’ the Huns and Slavs—a great mass of them—
rose up against Thrace, made war there, and killed or captured many
people. They caught Sergius, the magister militum, son of the pres-
byter Bakchos, and Edermas, the general, [in the service of]
Kalopodios,° the most glorious cubicularius and_praepositus.
Having discovered that some parts of the Anastasian wall’ had col-
lapsed from the earthquakes,’ they got in and took prisoners as far
asi" Drypia’® and Nymphai and the village of Chiton." Everyone
fled with their possessions into the city. On being informed of this,
the emperor conscripted many and sent them to the Long Wall. They
engaged the enemy there and many Romans, especially scholarii,
were killed. Then the emperor ordered that the silver ciboria and sil-
ver altar tables that were outside the city be removed while the
scholae, the protectores,” the numeri,? and the whole Senate
guarded all the gates of the Theodosian wall. When the emperor saw
that the barbarians were persisting, he ordered the patrician
Belisarius to march out against them with some other members of
the Senate. Belisarius took every horse, including those of the
emperor, of the Hippodrome, of religious establishments, * and from
every ordinary man who had a horse. He armed his troops” and led
them out to the village of Chiton. He made an entrenched camp and
began to capture some of the enemy and kill them. Next he ordered

341

233

234

AM 6051 Chronographia

trees to be cut and dragged behind the army. The wind blew up a
cloud of dust, which drifted over the barbarians. They, thinking that
an enormous force was there, fled and went to the district of St
Stratonikos at Dekaton."° When they learned from scouts that a
great garrison force was at the walls of Constantinople, they went to
the region of Tzouroulon, Arkadioupolis, and St Alexander of
Zoupara’ and remained encamped there until holy Easter. After the
Easter festival, the emperor went out to Selymbria’® and everyone
from the city went with him to rebuild the Long Wall’? where the
barbarians had entered. The emperor remained there until August.
Likewise the barbarians wandered about outside the city until
August. Then the emperor ordered double-prowed ships”® to be built
to go to the Danube and oppose the barbarians as they crossed and
make war on them. When the barbarians discovered this, they asked
through an envoy to be allowed to cross the Danube safely. The
emperor sent Justin, his nephew, the curopalates,” to conduct
them.

° Mai. 489. 19-490. 5; cf. 495. 10-12, Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 114. 14-22, Ps.-Dion.
a.867, 875, Mich. Syr. ii. 262. b> Mai. 490. 6-12; cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 269.

* Mal.'s date of 558 (as against Theophanes' 559) is correct. 7 May fell on
a Tuesday in 55 8. Theophanes appears to have got his date from the ecclesi-
astical history.

* Cf. C. Mango, ‘Isaurian Builders’, in P. Wirth, ed., Polychronion:
Festschrift Franz Dolger zum 75. Geburtstag (Heidelberg, 1966), 358-65.

3 Incorrect.

4 Mai. 490. 5 also has '20 feet’, but at 495. 1 he has '30 feet’. Cf. AM 6055
(de Boor, 238 end).

> Theophanes follows but omits Mal.'s precise date of Mar. of the 7th
indiction. There is a more rhetorical rather than detailed account of the
invasion at Agath. v. 11. See also Bury, HLRE’ ii. 304-8, Stein, BE ii. 5 35-40.

° The meaning is obscure and is best discussed in PLRE iii. 434-5,
Edermas. There was no such position as 'the general of someone’ nor can the
meaning be 'Edermas the general, son of Kalopodios' since cubicularii were
eunuchs. Mai. has fie‘orepov which may possibly represent Latin maior in
the sense of 'the major domo’ of Kalopodios, and Theophanes, excusably
unable to make sense of this, has substituted ‘general’. Alternatively Mai.
may have read 'Edermas (the general and) major domo of Kalopodios'’ and
Theophanes has omitted the obscure term but retained 'Kalopodios'.

7 Normally known as the ‘Long Walls’, these cross Thrace from
Selymbria (modern Silivri) on the sea of Marmara to the Black Sea. On the
walls, see esp. R. M. Harrison, 'To Manpov Telxos, the Long Wall in Thrace’,
Roman Frontier Studies, 1969, ed. E. Birley, B. Dobson, and M. Jarrett
(Cardiff, r974), 245-8; id., Archaeologia Aeliana, 47 (1969), 33-8; B. Croke,
GRBS 23 (1982), 59-78; L. M. Whitby, Byz 55 (1985), 560-83; and now

342-

Chronographia AM 6048

J. Crow, 'The Long Walls of Thrace’, in C. Mango and G. Dagron, eds.,
Constantinople and its Hinterland (Aldershot, 1995], 109-24. Croke argues
that the walls were built by Anastasios in about 5 00° Whitby returns with
vigour to the older view that Anastasios restored walls originally built in the
5 thcent.

8 Agathias does not mention the earthquake but stresses the lack of a
defence force. 'Their audacity went so far as to pass the Long Walls and
approach the inner fortification. For time and neglect had in many places
dilapidated the great wall, and other parts were easily thrown down by the
barbarians, as there was no military garrison, nor engine of defence . . . The
wall was less efficiently protected than a pig-sty or a sheep-cot.' Agath. v. 2,
tr. Bury, wire’ ii. 305. But Whitby, art. cit. 582, has argued on the basis of
Prok. aed. iv. 9. 8, that the walls were defended in 5 59, which in turn needs
ded. to be later than 559. Agathias also implies there was no defence beyond
the walls as against Theophanes' specific reference to the forces led by
Sergius and Edermas.

° In Mai. there is a large lacuna here. Theophanes' text is presumably
based on the original Mai.

“ There is no more precise indication of their locality than Theophanes
provides.

* The schol and the protectores both formed part of the palace guards.

3 Tt is far from clear what these numeri fapiz-oy are. Normally the term
refers to units of regular troops, but there were supposedly (see Agath. V.15)
no such troops in Constantinople. Bury, 4am. System, 60-1, suggested that
they were troops with special garrison duties in the capital, possibly con-
nected with the Arcadiaci (see Mai. 349. 5-6). Stein, ze ii. 537-43, argued
with less probability that they represent a civil defence force. See Cameron,
Circus Factions, 104-5 °

‘4 i.e. monasteries, hospitals, etc. Cf. Bury, 4am. system, 94.

® Apart from 300 of Belisarius’ veteran troops 'the remainder was a com-
pletely unarmed and unwarlike mob’, Agath. v. 16. 2; cf. Cameron, Circus
Factions, 106.

© On the via Egnatia, between the Hebdomon and Rhegion (but see
Mango, Developpement, 32-3). Presumably it is the same St Stratonikos as
in AM 6050.

7 Tzouroulon (ancient Tyrroloe), not far from the northern shores of the
sea of Marmara, three days' journey from Constantinople according to
Villehardouin (ii, para. 343, p. 152, ed. E. Faral (Paris, 1939) ), is the modem
corlu in European Turkey; Arkadioupolis (modern Liileburgaz], earlier
Bergula before its ‘foundation’ by Theodosios the Great (Kedr. i. 568], was a
station on the road from Perinthos-Herakleia to Adrianople. Zoiipara, usu-
ally Drizipera, e.g. at AM 6084 and 6092 (de Boor, 270 and 279), the modern
Biiyiik Kari“tiran, was also a station on the road rather closer to Perinthos.
See A. H. M. Jones, Cities of the Eastern Roman _ Provinces, 2nd_ edn.
(Oxford, 1971), 26-7.

343

AM 6051 Chronographia

8 Modern Silivri.

*° Whitby, vas 105 (1985), suggests that 'Prok.'s account of imperial
works in the vicinity of the capital in 4ea iv. 8-9 records this imperial expe-
dition in 559’. Stein, sz ii. 818-19, demonstrated that the description in
Const. Porph. ce. 497. 13-16 of Justinian's ceremonial return to
Constantinople refers to this occasion and occurred on Monday 1 Aug. 559.

*° Accepting the correction of hiairpvp-va to Si-npvjxva\ see de Boor's
Addenda (ii. 787).

* On the dignity of curopataes see esp. Bury, dm. System, 33-5, who
also provides a list till 900. With Justin's appointment the dignity acquired
a new importance, raising the holder above other patricians without for-
mally indicating him as heir apparent. Subsequently it was 'confirmed reg-
ularly on a member of the imperial family and was inferior only to the
Caesar and nobilissimus’ (Bury, op. cit., 34).

[am 6052, ad 559/60]

Justinian, 33rd year

Chosroes, 35th year

Pelagios, 4th year

Eutychios, 8thyear

Peter, 15th year

Apolinarios, 11th year

Anastasios, bishop of Antioch (11 years), 1st year

In this year the emperor began to build the bridge over the river
Sangarios.' After diverting the river into another bed, he built five
imposing arches’ and so made it possible to cross the river, where
previously there had only been a wooden bridge.

" For this famous bridge and associated questions, see Whitby, sus 105
(1985), 129-48. Descriptions survive in Prok. ded v. 3. 8-11; Agathias at
Anth. Gr. ix. 641; Zon. iii. 159 (quoting Anm. Gr), Const. Porph. de Them.
i. 27- Paul. Silent. £Xphrasis, 928-33. The Sangarios (modern Sakarya) now
flows about 3 km. east of the bridge which is by the village of Beskopru,
about 5 km. from Adapazari.

The absence of other material for this year must cause some suspicion
about the accuracy of Theophanes' dating (cf. AM 6035, 6036 for the transfer
of material to an empty year). Parallel sources add ‘he also built the church
of the all-holy mother of God at the spring’ (Leo Gramm. 323; Kedr. 678,
Skout. 100) and it would be helpful if that church could be dated. But there
is no good reason to reject Theophanes' date, especially as his dates for sur-
rounding years are accurate. If Theophanes' date is accurate, the composi-
tion of Prok. 4eda. can be dated to after this year (since Prok. refers to the
bridge being under construction) and before Dec. 562, the occasion of Paul.

344-

Chronographia AM 6048

Silent.'s zxpniasis in which he refers to the bridge as completed. See now
R. Macrides and P. Magdalino, ames 12 (1988), 47-82.

* Theophanes is correct despite the reference to eight arches by C. Texier,
Desciiption de I'Asie Mineure (Paris, 1859), 5 5-6 and pi. LV. See Whitby, art.

cit., 129 Nn. 5.

[AM 6053, AD 5<>0/I]

Justinian, 34th year
Chosroes, 36 thyear
Pelagios, 5 th year
Eutychios, 9th year
Peter, 16 th year
Apolinarios, 12 thyear
Anastasios, 2nd year

In this year, on Thursday, 9 September, of the gth indiction,’ a
rumour arose in Constantinople that the emperor had died. For he
had returned from Thrace’ but did not receive anyone. So the people
suddenly seized the bread from the bread shops and bakeries, and at
about the third hour no bread could be found in the whole city.
There was also a downpour of rain that day. The shops were closed
and the common talk at the palace was that the emperor had not
granted an audience to any senator because he had a headache.’ For
this reason it was believed that he had died. About the ninth hour
the Senate called a meeting and sent the prefect to have lights lit
throughout the city* to show that the emperor was well. In this way
the city was calmed after the disturbance. After the emperor had
recovered, the ex-prefect Eugenios’ accused George, the curator of
the palace of Marina, and Aitherios,° curator of the palace of
Antiochos, of having intended to make Theodore,’ son of Peter the
magister, emperor, with whom Gerontios, the City prefect, was in
accord. When the matter had been investigated and disproved,
Eugenios came under displeasure, and his house was confiscated. He
sought refuge in the church and was saved.

In December there was a large fire in Julian's harbour,® and many
houses were burned as well as churches from the edge of the harbour
as far as the quarter of Probus. There was also a big plague at
Anazarbos? and [elsewhere] in Cilicia and in Great Antioch, as well
as earthquakes. The orthodox and the supporters of Severus clashed
with one another and there were many murders. The emperor dis-
patched Zemarchos,° comes Orientis, and checked the trouble-
makers, many of whom were punished by exile, confiscation of
property, and mutilation.

345

235

AM605I1 Chronographia

" In 560, 9 Sept. did fall on" a Thursday, confirming Theophanes'’ date.
Mai. (still in lacuna here, cf. AM 6051, n. 9) is presumably the source.

* The implication is that this refers to Justinian's return after rebuilding
the Long Walls. Cf. AM 6051, where it was reported that Justinian was in
Thrace from Easter till August rebuilding the Long Walls after the Hun inva-
sion of 559. The implication must be that his return and illness were in the
same year. Since both the Hun invasion and the illness are securely dated,
either the invasion or the rebuilding presumably continued for 2 years.

3 Cf. Prok. aed. i. 7. for another instance of the emperor being ill with
an even more dramatic response.

* Public street lights were probably instituted in 438-41, see Dagron,
Naissance, 269 with n. 1, McCormick, fternat Victory, no. But lamps were
lit as part of imperial celebrations. Cf. AM 6119. See J. Gage, 'Fackel (Kerze)',
RAC 7 (1969), 154-217, esp. 180-6.

> G. Schlumberger, —Sigitiographie de _—I'Empire _—byzantin + (Paris, 1884),
plausibly identified Eugenios with the Eugenios of a supposedly 6th-cent.
seal, since he was ex-prefect (0 dn-o hrapxov) and drungarius.

° Aitherios was to be accused of involvement in another plot against
Justinian in 562 (AM 605 5in 565 he was prominent in driving the patriarch
Eutychios into exile; probably in 566 (see AM 6059) he was convicted and
executed for conspiring to poison Justin II. Earlier he is said to have offered
Justinian the services of a sorcerer, and to have trained Justin II's minister
Anastasios in the art of using mischief. See prez iii. 22, Aetherius 2.

7 Cf. AM 6054, where Theodore checked a threatened meeting of the
schol. He was a Monophysite but still managed a long and successful
career under Justin II. set pzre iii. 1255-6. For his father (magister officio-
rum 539-65) see PLRE iii. 994-8, Petrus 6.

® Later known as the 'Sophian’, this was a very large harbour (Zos. iii. 11.
3) on the Propontis, a short distance to the west of the Imperial Palace and
the Hippodrome, probably the modern Kadirgalimam. See Mango,
Developpement, 3 8- 9.

° Anazarbos, the modern Anavarza, in Cilicia.

am 6054 [ad 561/2]

Year of the divine Incarnation 554

Justinian, emperor of the Romans (38 years), 35th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (48 years), 37th year
John, bishop of Rome (8 years), 1st year’

Eutychios, bishop of Constantinople (13 years), 10th year
Peter, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 17th year
Apolinarios, bishop of Alexandria (19 years), 13th year
Anastasios, bishop of Antioch (11 years), 3rd year

346-

Chronographia AM6048

On Wednesday, 12 October of this year,” in the 10th indiction, late
in the evening, there was a big fire in the quarter of Caesarius? as far
as Omphakera,* as it is called. All the shops and portals as far as the
[Forum of] the Bull were burned.’ In November, during the races,
before the emperor's arrival, a riot among the partisans broke out.°
The Greens attacked the Blues. When the emperor heard, he went up
to the Kathisma and, on seeing the fighting, ordered Marinus, comes
excubitorum,’ with the curator of the estate of Caesarius to go down
and separate the factions. They went off but were unable to disperse
them. Many from both factions were killed and many others
wounded. The Blues then invaded the Greens' seats, chanting, ‘Burn
here, burn there. Not a Green anywhere.’ In return the Greens
chanted, 'Come, come, everybody, everybody!’ They went to the
Mese,? to the quarters’® of the Blues and stoned those they encoun-
tered chanting, 'Set alight, set alight! Not a Blue in sight.’ They
invaded the quarters as Sunday was dawning and stole property. The
emperor ordered the Greens to be arrested, and they were punished
with many tortures. The Blues sought refuge in the church of the
Mother of God at Blachernai. The Greens who stole out sought
refuge in St Euphemia at Chalcedon. The prefect ejected them and
punished them. Their wives and mothers began to shout in the
churches at the emperor that he grant indulgences to the Greens.
They were driven off with sticks and the emperor was not reconciled
to the Greens until Christmas.

In February the emperor ordered that of the men of the seven
scholae,” those who were stationed at Nicomedia, Kios, Prousa,
Kyzikos, Kotyaeion, and Dorylaion, leave and take up quarters in
Thrace, that is in Herakleia and the surrounding cities. In March the
scholae rose up against their comes because of some payments they
used to receive which had been abolished; so they attacked him.
Theodore Kondocheres, the son of Peter the magister, chanced to be
there and by a threatening speech managed to appease them.

In the same year tObaisipolis”® was captured by the Huns. The
emperor sent out his nephew Marcellus, the magister militum, with
a large force to rescue both this city and tPersis*. In April
Anastasioupolis in Thrace was also captured by the same Huns.

nu On 3 May” Zemarchos, curator of the palace of Placidia, was
accused of making many terrible statements against the emperor!ll*
by George, curator of the palace of Marina, and by John the ex-con-
sul, both relatives of the empress Theodora.

"Mai. 490. 13-14.
* John III was pope 17 July 5 61-13 July 574-
347

236

237

AM6051 Chronographia

* In 561, 12 Oct. fell on a Wednesday, confirming the date.

3 i.e. around the harbour of Caesarius. On the problem of identification
see Mango, Developpement, 38.

* Only known from this incident, probably to the west of the harbour of
Caesarius.

> The Forum Bovis is traditionally placed at Aksaray between Amastria-
non and the Xerolophos. See, however, Mango, Developpement, 70.

® With the text of Mai. still in lacuna here (cf. AM 6051, n. 9), we might
have expected to find this riot included in Const. Porph. De insid. It is more
probable that the riot was not considered serious enough for inclusion than
that Theophanes was making use of a different source. Kedr. i. 679. 7-ro is
derived from Theophanes. For a discussion of various salient points about
this riot, see Cameron, Circus Factions, 90-1, from whom we have also bor-
rowed the translation of the chants.

? The excubitors were a body of palace guards, probably created by Leo I,
and commanded by a comes to the end of the 7th cent. The importance of
the post is reflected in its holders, the future emperors Justin I and Tiberius,
Maurice's brother-in-law Philippikos, and Priscus. See Bury, Adm. System,
57-

® The burning confirms later evidence that the crowd sat on elevated
wooden grandstands, not stone benches. See Cameron, Circus Factions, 91
n. 2 and references there.

° The principal thoroughfare of Constantinople.

"© Or perhaps 'meeting-place’.

“On the scholae, see Haldon, Praetorians, 119-30, 142-50; Bury, Adm.
System, 49-50. We have adopted Bury's emendation of Scholae for scholarii
(see Bury, op. cit. 49). Justinian had earlier increased the number of scholae
of palace guards from the seven of the 5 th cent, to eleven, making a total of
5,500 men. But this passage seems to indicate a reduction to the original
seven, as does a reference to seven in a ceremony from Justinian's reign. In
addition to the six cities listed here, there was certainly a schola stationed
in Constantinople, though until at least 54r there were scholares from all
seven scholae there (Haldon, op. cit. 128). The scholae were originally com-
manded by the m agister officiorum, but at times the effective head seems to
have been the comes domesticorum. Hence Haldon justifies the manuscript
reference to a singular comes here, presumably the comes domesticorum,
against Bury and others who argue for the plural, believing that Theodore
Kondocheres, the son of Peter the magister, must have come to the aid of
the comites in charge of the individual scholae. See Haldon, op. cit. 142-4,
Bury, op. cit. 49-50. The move here is presumably a response to the lack of
troops in Thrace to meet the Hun invasion of 559 (see AM 6051) and reflects
both justifiable anxiety about that area (see the following paragraph) and
also the shortage of good troops after the plague. For the scholarian guards
were simply parade ground troops (see Bury, ii. 359 n. 4 citing Agath. v. 19
and Prok. Anecd. 24. 16-17), although this passage suggests they already had
at least garrison duties. They were reportedly allowed to stay at home in
return for forfeiting their pay. See Jones, LRE, 284, Prok. Anecd. 24. 21-6.

348-

Chronographia AM 6048

Corrupt. De Boor suggested ‘the city of Novae’. Possibly 'Odyssopolis'
(Odessos, the modern Varna in Bulgaria).

8 Corrupt. De Boor suggested ‘its surroundings’ reading n-eptoixiSa for
rqv _ Ilepoi&a.

‘4 Mal.'s text resumes here and is quite detailed for the next two years, as
against his sparse coverage of Justinian's middle years. It is notable that
Theophanes, with plenty of material available, becomes selective again, as
with the opening of the reign, and reasonably accurate with his dates.

fam 6055, ad 562/3]

Justinian, 36 th year
Chosroes, 3 8th year
John, 2nd year
Eutychios, nth year
Peter, 18th year
Apolinarios, 14th year
Anastasios, 4th year

IlIn October of this year,’ a riot among the people occurred in the
quarter of Pittakia,* and the emperor punished a great many. In
November there was a drought and water became scarce, resulting
in many fights around the fountains. (Since) August a north wind
had blown and none from the south. Ships could not reach
Constantinople so Eutychios, the patriarch, ordered a litany to [the
quarter of) Jerusalem, that is to St Diomedes.?

In the same month the patrician Narses sent news of victory from
Rome.* He announced that he had captured from the Goths two for-
tified cities, Beroia and Bringas.| K’

uOn the 25th of the same month, on Saturday evening,° certain
individuals formed a plan to murder the emperor while he was sit-
ting in the palace. They were Ablabios, the former musical com-
poser,’ Marcellus, the banker, and Sergius, the nephew of the curator
Aitherios. This was their plan. While the emperor was sitting in the
triclinium® in the evening before dismissing the company, they
would rush in and kill him. They had as helpers some of their own
men, Indians’? hidden in the office of the silentiaries and in the
Archangel's [chapel] and in the Harma,’”° who were to cause a dis-
turbance while the plot was carried out. The same Ablabios had
accepted money from Marcellus the banker," fifty pounds in all, to
join in the task. But, with God's consent, Ablabios confided in
Eusebios, the honorary consul and comes foederatorum, and also
John the logothete, the [son]" of Domentziolos, saying: ‘This
evening we intend to attack the emperor.’ After informing the

349

238

239

AM6051 Chronographia

emperor, [Eusebios] arrested them and discovered that they were
wearing concealed swords. The banker Marcellus, having failed in
his plan, drew the sword he was wearing, gave himself three blows
when he was apprehended in the triclinium, and died. Sergius, the
nephew of Aitherios, ran away and sought refuge [in the church] at
Blachernai. They dragged him from the church, interrogated him,
and persuaded him to confess that Isakios, the banker, and even
Belisarius, the most glorious patrician, were implicated in the same
conspiracy and that Vitus, the banker, and Paul, the curator” of
Belisarius, were privy to the plot. After all of them had been arrested
and handed over to the prefect Prokopios, they testified and gave evi-
dence against the patrician Belisarius. The emperor immediately
became vexed with Belisarius. Many fled. On 5 December the
emperor held a silentium,’ invited the most holy patriarch
Eutychios, and ordered the depositions to be read out. On hearing
them, Belisarius was greatly upset and incurred the emperor's wrath.
The emperor ordered the removal of all his staff u° and put Belisarius
under house arrest.

On 24 December the consecration of the Great Church took
place for the second time.” The all-night vigil of the consecration
took place at St Plato's.’* Eutychios, the patriarch of Constan-
tinople, set out from there with the litany, accompanied by the
emperor. Eutychios sat in the carriage wearing the apostolic habit
and holding the holy Gospel, while everyone sang the psalm, ‘Raise
up your gates, you leaders.'II“°

I lIn the same month some districts of Africa were occupied by the
Mauretanians, who had risen in revolt in Africa in the following
manner.” A man of this tribe named Koutzinas, who was leader of
the Mauretanians, had customarily received from the serving gover-
nor of Africa a fixed amount of gold. But when he came to collect it,
John, the governor of Africa,’® killed him. Koutzinas' sons rose up to
avenge their father's blood and, falling on Africa, captured some
parts of it which they plundered. At the news of this, the emperor
sent to the assistance of Africa his nephew Marcian, IK'® the magis-
ter militum, with an army to pacify the Moors. They went over to
him and Africa gained peace.

In April Prokopios was dismissed from the city prefecture and
replaced by Andrew, the ex-logothete. As he came out of the palace
[through] the Chalke, seated in his carriage on his way to the
Praetorium, the Greens met him at [the palace of] Lausos.*® They
began to insult him and throw stones at him. This led to a big dis-
turbance of the two factions in the Mese They broke into the pris-
ons and fighting went on from the tenth hour. The emperor sent out

350-

Chronographia AM 6048

his nephew Justin, the curopalates," who chased them away. But
they clashed again about the twelfth hour, and they were arrested
and paraded publicly for many days. Those who had fought with
swords had their thumbs cut off.

On 19 July the patrician Belisarius was received and given back all
his honours. Peter the magister arrived from Persia after securing a
a result of [events in] Lazica and

peace treaty for seventeen years,”
the eastern regions. In the same month envoys arrived (in
Constantinople) from Askel, king of the Hermichiones,*? who dwell
inland of the barbarian nation near the Ocean. In August there was
a shortage of water, so that the public baths were closed and murders
occurred at the fountains.

° Mai. 492. 7-19. > Mai. 493. 1-494. 21. ¢ Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 114.
26-31, Mai. 495. 9-16. 4 Mai. 495. 19-496. 7.

" Mai. confirms the date with ‘October of nth indiction’.

* Near Hagia Sophia by the Augustaion to the north-east of the Senate.
On the date see n. 6 below.

3 Near the Golden Gate just inside the walls.

* Narses had been in control of Rome since shortly after the death of
Totila in 552. Cf. AM 6044, Prok. BG iv. 32. 27, Bury, HLRE’ ii. 268.

> Verona and Brescia. Verona was captured on 20 July 561 [Agnellus, 79,
Agnellus’ accuracy at this stage being confirmed by a reference to Monday
25 July 561 which fits. See Stein, BE ii. 610-11 n. 1).

° Mai. confirms the year (nth ind.) and, at De insid. 49, the day of the
week (a Saturday). Theophanes’ previous reference is to Oct. but Mai. cor-
rectly has Nov. which in 5 62 fits with Saturday 25th. So Theophanes' source
must have dated either or both of Eutychios' litany and Narses' news to
Nov., not Oct.

7 On the meaning of am fj-eXioruv, see Cameron, Circus Factions, 260
and Tabachovitz, Studien, 28 f.

5 Usually a dining-room, but here specifically a hall in the Great Palace.

° Presumably Ethiopians, which is Theophanes' usual meaning of ‘Indian’.

"© Military quarters in the north of the palace, linked to the Tribunal. See
Guilland, Etudes, i. 3-4. 'App.a (sicj appears in Cer. i. 92, Reiske, 422. 13,
with reference to the proclamation of Anastasios.

"Cf. PLRE iii. 413-14, which also provides a family tree at 15 46, against
A. D. E. Cameron, Glotta, 56 (1978), 92 who argues for 'John the personal
logothete of Domentziolos'. On logothete, see Jones, LRE, 456 with n. 96.

* Jones, LRE, 1173-4 n. 39 (iii. 103 n. 39); cf. 426, uses this as evidence
of private citizens having curatores, although normally the term is used for
imperial officials responsible for imperial estates. Here Theophanes has sub-
stituted the term for Mal.'s vrormw ( = suboptio), ‘presumably an official
of Belisarius' household responsible for the pay of his bucellarii’, PLRE iii.
979, Paulus 18.

351

240

AM605I Chronographia

> The emperor's advisory council.

“ Cf. AM 6051a. For the ceremonies see Mary Whitby, CQ 35 (1985],
215-28, P. Magdalino and R. Macrides, BMGS 12 (1988), 47-82.

° Supposedly built by Anastasios after 500, but according to Prok. Aed.
i. 4. 27-9, restored by Justinian before 527, its location is variously given as
in the portico of Domninus and not far from the Forum of Constantine.

‘7 So ending 14 years of peace in Africa. Cf. AM 6026 (de Boor 216) with
n. 126.

8 John Rogathinus, either praetorian prefect of Africa, or magister mili-
tum. See Stein, BE ii. 560 n. r. It is not known what led him to murder
Koutzinas, who helped the Romans during the Vandal Wars and held at least
the official title of magister. See C. Diehl, LAfrique Byzantine (Paris, 1896),
456 ff., Coripp. lust., ed. Cameron, 127.

Son ofJustinian's sister and cousin o fJustin II. His appointment is evi-
dence of how seriously Justinian regarded the revolt. He is mentioned again
at AM 6064, where Theophanes incorrectly calls him Martin.

Our text of Mai. breaks off here in mid-sentence. It is not known at what
point Mai. ended his chronicle and thus ceased to be available as a source for
Theophanes, though it is clear that Mai. continued to 565 and possibly
though improbably to 574. See B. Croke in Mai. Studies, 23-5. Theophanes
seems to lack a good chronicle source for the reign of Justin II. See AM 6059,
Nn. 3-

*° At the beginning of the Mese on the left, north-west of the
Hippodrome.

* Justinian appears to have increased the importance of this dignity to
mark out his successor, without actually naming him as Caesar. See Bury,
Adm. System, 33-4, Coripp. lust. i. 134-6.

* For the terms of the treaty, which confirmed the truce of 557 (see AM
6046), see Men. Prot., frg. 3, Bury, HERE ii. 121-3, Stein, BE ii. 517-21.
According to Menander the treaty was fixed for 5 0 years though the Romans
had wanted a shorter period.

3 Stein, BE ii. 545, following E. Chavannes, Documents surles Tou-kiue
occidentaux (Paris, 1903), 231, argues that Askel's name was Scultor, based
on Coripp. lust. iii. 390, but see Cameron, ad loc. The Hermichiones or
Kermichiones have been identified as the Turks, on the basis of Theophanes
of Byzantium, FHG iv. 270, but Chavannes, op. cit., argued that they are to
be identified as the Ouarchites or Pseudo-Avars.

am 6056 [ad 563/4]

Year of the divine Incarnation 556

Justinian, emperor of the Romans (38 years), 37th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (48 years), 39th year
John, bishop of Rome (8 years), 3rd year

Eutychios, bishop of Constantinople (13 years), 12th year

352-

Chronographia AM 6048

Peter, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 19th year
Apolinarios, bishop of Alexandria (19 years), 15th year
Anastasios, bishop of Antioch (11 years), 5th year

In this year, in October of the 12th indiction, the emperor Justinian,
in fulfilment of a vow, visited Myriangeloi, otherwise known as
Germia,’ a city in Galatia. In November, Arethas’ the patrician and
phylarch of the Saracens, came to Byzantium, since he was obliged
to report to the emperor which of his sons, after his death, would
obtain his phylarchy, and to discuss the activities of Ambros, son of
Alamoundaros in his territory. In December a great fire broke out,
and the hospice of Sampson? was completely gutted as too were the
buildings in front of the quarter of Rufus and also the middle court,
near the Great Church (the one called Garsonostasion) and the two
monasteries near St Eirene, along with its middle court and part of
its narthex.

* Modern Ytirme near Sivrihisar. The remains of the church are still vis-
ible. For a description, see J. W. Crowfoot, ABSA 4 (1897/8), 86-92, K. Belke
and M. Restle, TIB 4 (1986), 166-8, 247, C. Mango, JOB, 36 (1986), rr7-32.

* Not to be confused with Arethas the Kindite (AM 5990, 5995, 6021). This
Arethas 'was placed in charge of many other tribes by Justinian and given
the title of king: his mission was to counter the power of Alamundaros the
Lakhmid', PLRE iii. rri-13. See I. Shahid (Kawar), BZ 52 (1959), 321-43, Byz
41 (1971), 313-38.

3 11had earlier been burned in the Nika riot. We do not know whenit was
rebuilt.

[am 6057, ad 564/5]

Justinian, 38 th year
Chosroes, 4oth year
John, 4th year
Eutychios, 13 thyear
Peter, 20th year
Apolinarios, 16th year
Anastasios, 6th year

In March of this year, in the 13th indiction, Belisarius the patrician
died in Byzantium, and his property accrued to the imperial house of
Marina. On px, April of the same 13th indiction,' Eutychios, patri-
arch of Constantinople, was deposed and banished to Amaseia by
Justinian. He was replaced by John, the ex-scholasticus, an
apokrisiarios of Great Antioch and presbyter of the same Church.

353

241

AM6051 Chronographia

I IIn the same year, the emperor Justinian, after raising the doctrine
of Corruptibility and Incorruptibility and issuing an edict* to all
places that was contrary to piety, with God acting in time, died on
14 November of the following 14th indiction,? having reigned 38
years, 7 months, and 13 days. His successor was his nephew
Justin,ll* the curopalates.*

In the same year the Theodosians and the Gaianitai® in Alexandria
began to build conventicles. The Gaianitai, acting on their own
authority, ordained as their own bishop their archdeacon Elpidios.
The emperor ordered that Elpidios be brought to him in chains. On
the journey, he died at Sigris.° The Theodosians secretly ordained
Dorotheos one night as their bishop. Then the Gaianitai and
Theodosians united and enthroned a common bishop for them-
selves. The Gaianitai,’ thinking that a certain monk called John had
devised a plot, tore off his beard, along with his skin and flesh.®

Cramer, Eccl. Hist. in. 15-19; cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 281.

" Eustratios, Life of Eutychios (PG 86; 2317B), gives the date as 22 Jan.
(feast of St Timothy) and states that he was banished for refusing to endorse
Justinian's edict on Aphthartodocetism. Eustratios' version is likely to be
accurate. 12 Apr. was the date of the ordination of patriarch John IV (see AM
6074). Cf. Stein, BE ii. 688 n. 1.

* On the doctrine see AM 6033, n. 5. The date of the edict will be some
time before 22 Jan. (see above). Stein, BE ii. 684, suggests the end of 564.
That is, it should be the first event in this year.

3 i.e. Justinian’s death should be placed under AM 6058 (14th ind.).
Theophanes has not only reversed the order of events for this year, but tele-
scoped fustinian's lapse into heresy with his death, and underlined the
causal connection with the reference to God's action.

* For curopalates see AM 6051, n. 21.

> i.e. the supporters of the rival patriarchs of Alexandria, Theodosios and
Gainas respectively (see AM 6033). The Gaianitai, whose ideas were taken
from Julian of Halikamassos, were thus aphthartodocetists and now had
imperial support.

° A regular stopping-off point on the island of Lesbos (modern Sinkri).

? The text of this sentence is corrupt.

® Anastasius adds 'To such a degree did the madness of heretics become
customary that they often took part in things which are [characteristic] of
pagans.

am 6058 [ad 565/6]

Year of the divine Incarnation 558
Justin, emperor of the Romans (13 years), 1st year

354-

Chronographia AM 6048

Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (48 years), 41st year
John, bishop of Rome (8 years), 5th year

John, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 1st year
Makarios, bishop of Jerusalem (2 years), istyear
Apolinarios, bishop of Alexandria (19 years), 17th year
Anastasios, bishop of Antioch (11 years), 7th year

In this year on 14 November of the 14th indiction, Justinian's
nephew Justin became emperor and was crowned by the patriarch
John, the ex-scholasticus.’ Justin was a Thracian by race, magnani-
mous and capable in all matters and an avid builder. He had a wife
named Sophia whom he crowned Augusta.* Being pious, he adorned
the churches built by Justinian, namely the Great Church, the Holy
Apostles, and other churches and monasteries, granting them plate
and a full revenue. He was thoroughly orthodox. ]iHe sent out the
monk Photeinos,* stepson of the patrician Belisarius, with authority
to deal with all people and issues,I\* in order to pacify all the
churches of Egypt and Alexandria.*

"Cramer, Eccl Hist. ii. in. 24-7.

' There is a detailed account of Justin's accession and coronation in
Coripp. lust.

* Sophia, who was probably Theodora's niece, was probably born before
530 and married before 550 as by 565 she had a married daughter.

3 Eccl. Hist, confirms the date as Justin's first year. Photeinos, or Photios,
the more formal name by which he is also called in Eccl. Hist, and by Prok.,
was Antonina's son by a previous marriage. After holding high office in cam-
paigns with his stepfather against both Goths and Persians, he had been per-
secuted by his mother and had become a monk to escape further persecution
by Theodora. Subsequently he became abbot of the so-called New
Monastery at Jerusalem. Perhaps his mission to Egypt was connected with
the death of the Monophysite patriarch Theodosios in June 5 66. He was also
used by Justin at some stage before 572 to crush a Samaritan and Jewish
revolt in Syria. See PLRE iii. ro37-9, Photius 2.

John of Nikiu states that Photios was sent by Justinian, in which case this
incident was probably linked to the Samaritan revolt of 555 (cf. AM 6048).
Confusion between Justin and Justinian is, however, frequent in non-Greek
texts. Moreover John had already mentioned Justinian's death; does not
mention Justin II by name; and places this event shortly before Tiberius’
coronation.

* Theophanes’ account of this year notably omits Justin's execution in
Alexandria of his potential rival Justin, son of Germanus, which
Theophanes delays to AM 6063. The altered chronology has the effect of
making an established emperor restore order by removing a usurper rather
than a rival with perhaps equal claims before the succession was decided.

355

242

AM 6051 Chronographia

Cf. Theophanes' treatment of Justin I's elimination of Vitalian (AM 6012).
Possibly Photeinos was assigned the task of removing Justin.

[am 6059, ad 566/7]

Justin, 2nd year
Chosroes, 42nd year
John, 6th year

John, 2nd year
Makarios, 2nd year
Apolinarios, 18 thyear
Anastasios, 8th year

IIIn this year Aitherios and Audios and their physician plotted
against the emperor Justin and, on being found out, were executed
by the sword.” Justin gave consular largess and scattered much
money, and thus enriched many. n?

Illn the same year? the monk Agathon, a brother of Apolinarios the
bishop of Alexandria, after coming to Alexandria and having exam-
ined the accounts of Eustochios, a monk who was at the time impor-
tant and* oikonomos of Alexandria, imprisoned him because of his
stewardship. Eustochios escaped through the roof and came to
Byzantium just when Makarios had been expelled from the Church
as a result of a plot. Eustochios was ordained bishop of Jerusalem in
place of Makarios.II‘

° Cf. Evagr. v. 3, Joh. Bicl. year 2 of Justin. » Cf. Coripp. lust. iv. 10-12.
© Cramer, Eccl. Hist. ii. no. 24-9.

* Evagr. names the second conspirator as Addaios and adds that Aitherios
confessed to a plan to poison the emperor and that Addaios confessed to
using sorcery to get rid of the palace prefect Theodotos. John of Biclar, who
was still a boy in Constantinople at this time, may reflect Theophanes' and
Evagrios' source, stating that the conspirators hoped to kill Justin 'through
doctors by poison rather than the sword’. On Aitherios cf. AM 6055 for his
involvement in the so-called Bankers' conspiracy.

The execution was in Oct. 566, Eustratios, Life of Eutychios, PG 86: 2361;
A. M. Cameron, note on Coripp. lust. i. 60-i, ead., 'The Early Religious
Policies of Justin II', Studies in Church History 13, ed. D. Baker (Oxford,
1976), 54.

* On 1 Jan. 566. Justin's revival of the consulship (in abeyance since 542)
will have been popular because of this largess. See Coripp. lust. iv. 10-12,
100-4 “"d Cameron's commentary ad loc., R. MacMullen, Latomus, 21
(1962), 160-6; A. M. Cameron, Byz 50 (1980), 80-i; Anth. Plan. 72. On the
costs involved see M. Hendy, Studies in the Byzantine Monetary Economy
(Cambridge, 1985), 192-5.

356-

Chronographia AM 6048

Justin presented the restoration of the consulship as the return of justice
and fairness, but in fact it involved massive expenditure.

3 The date is questionable. Eustochios replaced Makarios in Jerusalem
probably in Oct. 582 (Grumel, 451), so it would seem that Theophanes' date
is late by one indiction. It is, however, one of the rare occasions where
Theophanes' narrative has been made to coincide with his chronological
notice. (He lists Eustochios as patriarch for AM 6060.) This (unfortunate)
attempt by Theophanes to date material from the evidence of his chrono-
logical notice may reflect his shortage of material between the end of Mal.'s
chronicle and the opening of Theophylact Simocatta. For these eight years,
Theophanes appears to have available only such information as may be
available in a city chronicle augmented with material (as here) from an
ecclesiastical history. Given his uncertainty here, note also the equally
unreliable Joh. Nik. 94.8, who refers to Agathon as the prefect of Alexandria
sent by Justinian in 551 to install Apolinarios as patriarch of Alexandria.

* De Boor rejects ‘and’, reading 'the great oikonomos’, but the manu-
scripts, Anastasius’ translation, and Cramer's Eccl. Hist, all support its
inclusion.

[am 6060, ad 567/8]

Justin, 3rd year

Chosroes, 43rd year

John, 7th year

John, 3rd year

Eustochios, bishop of Jerusalem (1 year), ist year
Apolinarios, 19th year

Anastasios, gth year

IlIn this year Sophia, the most pious Augusta, summoned the
bankers and money-lenders and ordered that the contracts and
receipts of debtors be brought.’ Having read them, she took the
receipts and handed them over to the debtors and repaid the
amounts to their owners. For this she was greatly praised by
the whole city.I\’

uEustochios, out of hatred towards Apolinarios, Agathon, and
Makarios, went to Jerusalem and expelled the monks of the New
Lavra on the grounds of Origenism. Because of this he was deposed”
and Makarios was restored again to his throne. 1?

"Cf. Zon. xiv. 10 (derived from Theophanes], > Cramer, Eccl. Hist. iii.
12-14.

* At his coronation Justin had repaid loans demanded by Justinian
(Coripp. lust. ii. 360-404). Given the uncertainty of Theophanes' dates in
this section, this may be a garbled version of that action, as A. M. Cameron

357

243

AM 6051 Chronographia

suggests ad loc., cf. a 45 (1975), 9-10. Perhaps in Theophanes' source
Sophia's action followed (and balanced) Justin's consular largess (AM 5059],
which Theophanes has certainly dated a year late.

The exaction of loans by Justinian may well be connected with the
bankers’ revolt (AM 605 5) in which Aitherios was also implicated. Justin cer-
tainly claimed that he had inherited a crisis from Justinian. 'We found the
treasury burdened with many debts and reduced to utter exhaustion’ so.
148 preface, year 566), but Justin's ability to repay the debts easily perhaps
shows that the situation had not been serious. See Jones, 1re 301.

* For the date cf. AM 6059, n. 3.

3 It is notable that these ecclesiastical notices both concern Jerusalem,
perhaps reflecting the type of source material available to Synkellos rather
than Theophanes.

[am 6061, ad 568/9]

Justin, 4th year

Chosroes, 44th year

John, 8thyear

John, 4th year

Makarios, bishop of Jerusalem again (4 years), 1st year
John, bishop of Alexandria (11 years), 1st year
Anastasios, 10th year

In this year when the chariot races had been held and quarrelling was
breaking out among the factions, the emperor sent proclamations to
each of the factions, saying to the Blues, 'The emperor Justinian is
dead and gone from among you’, and to the Greens, 'The emperor
Justinian still lives among you'.’ When the factions heard this, they
became quiet and quarrelled no longer.

In the same year he began to build the palace of Sophianai, named
after his wife Sophia, on the pretext that before he had become
emperor and while he was still curopalates his son Justus had been
buried there, in the church of the Archangel in that area.” He deco-
rated it with a variety of expensive marbles.

" One might have expected such a statement to be made rather earlier in
Justin's reign than his fourth year. Having made clear his no-nonsense attitude
to both sides, Justin was not troubled by the factions throughout his reign.

* Across the Bosporus probably at Cengelkoy |Pargoire, 'Hieria', src 4
(1899), 43). Nothing further is known of this church of the Archangel. The
palace is referred to by Coripp. ms iv. 287, writing almost certainly before
568, and by Marinus Scholasticus in ant. Gr ix. 657, probably written in
567. Theophanes' date is thus almost certainly too late. A. M. Cameron, 2:
37 (1967), 11-20, suggests a date of 565.

358-

Chronographia AM 6048

[AM 6062, AD 569/70]

Justin, 5th year

Chosroes, 45 th year

Benedict, bishop of Rome (5 years), 1st year’
John, 5th year

Makarios, 2nd year

John, and year

Anastasios, nth year

IllIn this year the emperor Justin began to build the palace of
Deuteron* on the estate which he owned before becoming
emperor. II" He also built [? a palace}? by the harbour of the island of
Prinkipos, where he likewise had an estate, as well as the church of
the holy Anargyroi* in the quarter of Darios. He restored the public
bath of the Tauros® and named it Sophianai after his wife Sophia.

Illn the same year Anastasios, the great bishop of Antioch, after he
had criticized in his rescript the synodical letter of John of
Constantinople, who had ordained John of Alexandria, was expelled
from his own see following that man's ordination because of Justin's
anger. Gregory, a monk and apokrisiarios of the monastery of the
Byzantines, was then ordained. n

2 Cf. Joh. Eph. HE iii. 24 (Payne Smith, 204-5). b cit Mich. Syr. ii. 292.

" Benedict was pope 2 June 575-30 July 579.

* Deuteron was probably situated north of the church of the Holy
Apostles extending also between the walls of Constantine and Theodosios.
See Janin, cp, 336-40. For the identification of this palace with the one
described by John of Ephesos, iii. 24, see A. M. Cameron, ay: 37 (1967),
17-18.

3 Nothing else is known of this.

* i.e. Kosmas and Damian’. The quarter of Darios was probably north-east
of the harbour of Sophia. The church is probably identical with the church
of Kosmas and Damian in the quarter of Basiliskos referred to by Zon. (pos-
sibly derived from Theophanes) xiv. ro (Bonn, ii,. p. 174), cer ii. r3 (Bonn,
562), and Anth. Gr. i. 11).

> Nothing else is known of this bath.

° This passage is probably taken from the same ecclesiastical history used
at AM 6058, 6059, and 6060. See Whitby, 2): 53 (1983), 320, who also sug-
gests that 'the Constantinopolitan Chronicle might have recorded this
example of imperial interference in church affairs’. Theophanes' dating of
Anastasios’ expulsion is correct. Mich. Syr. simply records Anastasios’
expulsion and replacement by Gregory, whose charity he praises. For the
monastery of the Byzantines at Jerusalem see S. Vailhe, 'Monasteres’, i.
518-19.

359

244

AM 6063 Chronographia

[am 6063, ad S70/1]

Justin, 6thyear

Chosroes, 46th year

Benedict, and year

John, 6thyear

Makarios, 3rd year

John, 3rd year

Gregory, bishop of Antioch (24 years), 1st year

I llIn this year Narses, the cubicularius and protospatharios, the one
who was beloved by the emperor Justin (whom he abused),’ built the
house of Narses and the monastery of the CatharsJI*** When the
emperor Justin heard that his own nephew, whom he had appointed
augustalis in Alexandria, was hatching a plot against the emperor,
he sent orders to have him beheaded. 1

"Cf. Joh. Eph. HE 1. 39 (Payne Smith, 75). > Joh. Ant, frg. 217b.

* Theophanes is guilty of some confusion here. This Narses is not the
general (pzre iii. 912-28, Narses 1), but another eunuch who was present at
Justin's coronation and was praised by Coripp. ms. iii. 220 ff., iv. 368 ff.
(PLRE iii. 930-1, Narses 4). An inscription on the Rhesion gate of
Constantinople gives his titles as spatharios and sakeltarios. The first of
these is supported by Corippus iv. 366 (see Cameron on iii. 220, p. 189) and
Joh. Eph. aevi. 30-1. Protospatharios is not otherwise reliably attested till
692 (Lib. Pon i. 373. 9-10, Duchesne). See esp. I. Ssvcenko, zrvn2 (1970),
r-8. The parenthetic 'whom he abused’ remains a problem. There is noth-
ing in our sources to suggest conflict. There is, however, a tradition of an
exchange of insults between Sophia and Narses the general at his dismissal
from his post in Italy. Sophia sent Narses (also a eunuch) a distaff and sug-
gested he return to the women's quarters where he belonged. In revenge
Narses supposedly invited the Lombards to invade Italy. See Paul. Diac.
Hist. Lang ii. 5. Cf. a similar story at AM 6080 (de Boor, 263) about
Hormisdas and Baram. The combination of the confusion of title and the
possible confusion of the two Narses suggests that Theophanes was almost
certainly relying on an unreliable or late source or was elaborating on mea-
gre material. The legend of Narses' quarrel with the empress and his invita-
tion to the Lombards was repeated by Const. Porph. in par 27.

* For the monastery of the Cathars, situated in Bithynia near Pythia, see
E. Honigmann, ay: 14 (1939), 617-19; R. Jamin, Grands centres, 158-60.
John of Ephesos has a fairly long account of the circumstances of this build-
ing of the monastery of the Cathars, and also confuses the two Narses.
Although he makes no reference to any quarrel, he may perhaps represent
Theophanes’ source here.

3 The execution of Justin in fact took place in 566: see AM 6058, n. 4. Cf.
Evagr. v. 2-3, who, though imprecise about the date, places the execution

360

Chronographia AM6048

shortly before that of Aitherios and Addaios, as does John of Biclar, though
he dates the executions to the year 568. Theophanes alone mentions the
appointment as augustalis. Evagr. says Justin was accused in Constan-
tinople and then removed to Alexandria, where he was murdered one night.

fam 6064, ad 571/2]

Justin, 7th year
Chosroes, 47 th year
Benedict, 3rd year
John, 7thyear
Makarios, 4th year
John, 4th year
Gregory, 2nd year

In this year Justin began to build the church of the holy apostles
Peter and Paul in the Orphanage,’ and the church of the Holy
Apostles in the Triconch’ (the one that had been burned during the
reign of Zeno). To the church of the holy Mother of God at
Blachernai he added two arches, the northern one and the southern
one, that is in the great church, and made it cruciform.’

IlIn the same year* the Romans and Persians destroyed the peace?
and the Persian War was renewed once again because the Homerite
Indians n° sent an embassy to the Romans and the emperor sent
Julian,” the magistrianus with an imperial letter to Arethas,® the
emperor of the Ethiopians. [Julian travelled] from Alexandria, along
the river Nile and the Indian sea and was received by emperor
Arethas with great delight since he desired the friendship of the
Roman emperor. Julian, on his return, described that at his reception
emperor Arethas was [nearly] naked. From his belt to his loins he
had gold-threaded linen cloth. Over his stomach he wore straps of
precious pearls. On each arm he had five bracelets and gold rings on
his hands. Round his head was wound a gold-threaded linen turban,
with four tassels hanging from each of the two knots, and round his
neck was a gold collar. He stood on top of four upright elephants
which supported a yoke and four disks and, above those, something
like a lofty chariot adorned with gold leaf, like the carriages of
provincial governors.” He stood on top of this carrying a small gilded
shield and two golden lances. His whole senate, under arms, was
there singing musical refrains. So after the Roman envoy had been
brought in and had made his obeisance, he was ordered by the
emperor to arise and be led to him. After receiving the emperor's let-
ter, [Arethas] kissed the seal which bore the emperor's portrait bust.

361

245

AM 6063 Chronographia

And on receiving the gifts, he rejoiced greatly. When he read the let-
ter, he discovered that it contained [instructions] for him to take up
arms against the emperor of the Persians’® and to destroy the land of
the Persians that lay close to him and, in the future, not to have any
dealings with the Persians, but to carry on trade through the terri-
tory of the Homerites, which he had subjected, along the Nile as far
as Alexandria in Egypt. The emperor Arethas immediately gathered
his army before the eyes of the Roman envoy and declared war
against the Persians, sending ahead those Saracens who served under
him. He himself proceeded against the Persian land and destroyed all
that there was of it in those parts. The emperor Arethas took Julian
by the head, gave him the kiss of peace and released him in great
favour and with many gifts.I \

IThere was another reason which disturbed Chosroes. For at that
time the Huns,” whom we are accustomed to call Turks, sent an
embassy to Justin via the territory of the Alans.” Being fearful of
this, Chosroes alleged that there had been an uprising of the
Armenians against him and that they had gone over to Justin, and
demanded the refugees. For the Roman emperor used to pay annu-
ally 500 pounds of gold” to the Persians to guard the forts near that
region so that invading tribes would not destroy their respective
states. Thus the forts were guarded at joint expense.” But Justin
ended the peace claiming that it was disgraceful that the Romans
should be levied for tribute by the Persians.”° For this reason this
great war arose between the Persians and the Romans.ll° Justin
appointed Martin,” who was a patrician and a kinsman of his, as
magister militum per Orientem and sent him out against the
Persians. I 1°

<> Cf. Theoph. Sim. iii. 9. 4-6. 6 Mai. 456. 24-459- 3- © Theoph. Sim.
iii. 9. 7-11. ¢ Theoph. Sim. iii. 10. 1.

The church, situated near the Acropolis point, is attributed to Justin by
several sources, including Patria, ii. 235 and the Life of St Zoticus, ch. 12.
ed. M. Aubineau AnBoll 93 (1975), 67. Justin is said to have buried there the
relics of several monastic saints (Syn. CP 217. 24-9). Theophanes implies
that the orphanage had existed earlier: cf. Aubineau's note ad loc. (p. 97).
Anna Comnena describes the whole complex (Alexiad, xv. 7).

* i.e. another church of Peter and Paul. The Triconch will not be the one
in the palace, which was not constructed until 838, but the one near the
Capitol. The remembrance service of the Fall of the Dust (see Am 5966) was
celebrated there each 6 Nov. Theophanes is our only evidence for attribut-
ing the rebuilding of the church to Justin.

3 Cf. AM 5943, n. 10. The repairs undertaken by Justin II are commemo-
rated in two epigrams, Anth. Gr. i. 2-3.

362

Chronographia AM6048

4 The date is from Theoph. Sim. (Justin's 7th year).

> i.e. the breaking of the treaty 561/2. For the details of that treaty, see
Men. Prot., frg. 6.1-3. Theoph. Sim. puts the blame squarely on the Romans
and Justin, an interpretation which is not acceptable to Theophanes (iii. 9.
4 'The Romans broke the treaty through the levity of the emperor’; iii. 9. 9
'The Romans, eager for a pretext, embraced warfare and from minor
ephemeral beginnings they devised for themselves great processions of trou-
bles: for bellicosity procured for them no profit’ tr. Whitby, 86). Theophanes'
rejection of Theoph. Sim. will in large part explain his decision to make use
of Mal.'s version of the embassy to the Himyarites despite the fact that it
belongs some 40 years earlier.

° Cf.AM 6015, n. 4 and 6035, n. 1. Theoph. Sim. makes the Romans allege
that the Persians had incited the Himyarites to revolt and, when this failed,
had attacked .the Himyarites, inflicting heavy losses.

7 See I. Kawar, 8z 53 (i960), 63-4. The name is probably correct.
Magistriani Were members on the staff of the magister officiorum and were
often sent with imperial messages. The transfer of this embassy from AD 530
or 531, where Theophanes' source Mai. relates it, is one of Theophanes'
grosser errors. M. J. Jeffreys, mai. Studies, 270-8, believes Theophanes pos-
sessed a damaged copy of Mai. in which a loose page containing this extract
had been reinserted at the end of the chronicle. We believe it is more likely
that Theophanes ja wanted to redistribute the excessive amount of mater-
ial Mai. includes for the years 527-32 and noted the lack of any chrono-
logical information in Mal.'s account, which appears to have been an
important criterion in Theophanes' redating of Mal.'s material and (¢) felt
the need for a substitute for Theoph. Sim.'s narrative which attributed
blame for the war to the Romans (cf. n. 5 above). This combination of fac-
tors will have been enough to convince Theophanes that Mai. had misdated
the embassy. Theophanes' shortage of material for Justin's reign will have
been an added reason for augmenting his account with material that prop-
erly belonged elsewhere.

2 Theophanes has inserted the name of Arethas, which is not in Mai,
who has Elasboas (Mai. 458. 17).

° For an illustration see L. Qeconomos, yz 20 (1959), 177-8.

"© Mai. names the emperor as Kavad. Since Kavad had died at AM 6017 (in
fact 13 Sept. 531), Theophanes has found it necessary to omit the name here.

"Whereas Theoph. Sim. simply refers to 'the Turkish embassy’
Theophanes has added the name 'Huns' from Theoph. Sim. iii. 6. 9, 'Huns,
whom the Persians are accustomed to call Turks’.

* Theophanes has made little sense of Theoph. Sim., according to whom
the Persians planned to bribe the Alans to kill the Turkish ambassador as
they passed through Alan territory. A more detailed account in Men. Prot.
(frgs. 18-22, our best source for the first Turkish-Roman diplomacy) states
that the Alan leader Sarodios told the Roman ambassador Zemarchos that
the Persians were planning to ambush him.

The Armenians had killed the king imposed on them by the Persians
and had revolted after the Persian satrap had tried to introduce

363

AM 6051 Chronographia

Zoroastrianism. The Armenians had been in contact with Justin since
569/70. Though Theoph. Sim. is more detailed than Theophanes, the best
sources for the revolt are Joh. Eph. HE ii. r 8-20, vi. 11, Evagr. v. 7, and Men.
Prot., frg. 36.

“4 In fact 50 lbs. in Theoph. Sim.

° For discussion and details see N. Garsoian, Cambridge, History of Iran,
Ill/r: 574-9. The forts were aimed at blocking migration and/or invasion
across the Caucasus through the Caspian Gates. The Romans had paid their
share of the costs during the 5th and part of the 6th cents.

© Justinian had paid for the first 7 years in 561/2 and Justin for the next
3 in 569. Men. Prot., frg. 36, records that Sebochthes was sent to Constan-
tinople in 572 to seek the next payment.

7 Marcian in Theoph. Sim. and Evagr. and at AM 605 5d, he was a nephew
of Justinian and cousin of Justin. Cf. 6066d for the same error.

AM 6065 [AD 572/3]

Year of the divine Incarnation 565

Justin, emperor of the Romans (13 years), 8th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (48 years), 48th year
Benedict, bishop of Rome (5 years), 4th year

John, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 8th year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 1st year

John, bishop of Alexaindria (11 years), 5 th year
Gregory, bishop of Antioch (24 years), 3rd year

In this year on 6 October the emperor fell ill and became vexed with
his own brother Badouarios,’ whom he insulted to the utmost, com-
manding the cubicularii to eject him during a silentium while pum-
melling him with their fists. Badouarios was comes of the imperial
stables.” When Sophia learned about this, she was distressed and
upbraided the emperor. He repented and went down to Badouarios
immediately, entering the stable with the praepositus of the cubic-
ularii. On seeing the emperor, Badouarios fled from corner to corner?
in fear of the emperor. The emperor cried out, 'My brother, I beseech
you by God, wait for me’. And running forward, Justin grabbed him,
embraced and kissed him, saying, 'I wronged you, my brother, but do
accept me as your eldest brother and as your emperor. For I know
that it was through the work of the devil that this has happened.
The other fell before his feet and said in tears, ‘Truly, master, yours
is the power; but having vilified your slave in the presence of the
Senate, will you now, master, make an explanation to them.’ And he
pointed to the horses.* The emperor invited Badouarios to dine with
him, and they made peace.

364-

Chronographia AM 6048

Illn the same year a great battle? took place near Sargathon®
between the Persians and the Romans in which the Romans were
victorious. I |*

"Theoph. Sim. iii. 10. 4.

* In fact his son-in-law (the husband of Sophia's daughter Arabia) and suc-
cessor as cuiopalates. He was killed in 576 fighting the Lombards in Italy.

* A senior position at the Court, often held by high-ranking generals (e.g.
Belisarius in 544). See Stein, BE ii. 796-8, Seeck, RE iv. 677, Bury, Adm.
System, 113.

3 This is the meaning given by Lampe, Patristic Greek Lexicon for the
hapaxlegomenon following Sophocles, Greek Lexicon, which connects
it with a supposed Russian word zakout. (What Sophocles may have
intended, as Dr Simon Franklin has pointed out to us, is zakyma (more often
zakymka, but occasionally zakym), meaning a stall (for cattle, pigs, etc.) or
the door to such a structure, though any link between this and the Greek
remains obscure.) Du Cange, Glossarium Mediae Graecitatis, gives late-
brae, 'hiding-place' or '‘lurking-hole’. Goar suggested ‘stable’.

* Perhaps the only attempted joke in Theophanes?

> Theoph. Sim. gives the date (Justin's 8th year).

° 13 km. west of Nisibis. For the purpose of the campaign, see Whitby,
Simoc. 87 n. 44.

lam 6066, ad 573/4]

Justin, 9 thyear

Hormisdas, emperor of the Persians (15 years), 1st year
Benedict, 5 th year

John, 9 thyear

John, 2nd year

John, 6th year

Gregory, 4th year

IlInthis year the Avars’ came to the regions of the Danube,!\* and the
emperor, having learned of this, dispatched Tiberius,* the comes
excubitoium, against them. After clashing with them and sustain-
ing a sudden attack, he was defeated and retreated with heavy
losses.1I"

u Hormisdas, the emperor of the Persians, appointed Ardamanes as
general and sent him to cross the Euphrates and to ravage Roman
territory. He himself, after collecting his forces, took up a position
against the Romans who were besieging Nisibis.I 1° When Martin
learned this, he abandoned Nisibis and retreated to Roman terri-
tory.! I? Ardamanes, coming close to Antioch, and having destroyed

365

AM 6051 Chronographia

the city's suburbs, advanced on Koile Syria. Thus Ardamanes cap-
tured many prisoners and returned to his own country.n° The
emperor Justin, suffering acutely from these events, dismissed
Martin from his command and appointed Archelaos magister mili-
tum. \\* Ardamanes captured Daras and then returned. And having
learned of this, Justin, in consternation at the greatness of the disas-
ter, was plunged into a deranged state and begged Hormisdas to
make peace. Hormisdas agreed to make a treaty for one year. 1

"Cf. Joh. Eph. we vi. 24 (Payne Smith, 430); Mai. 489; AM 6050, 6051. ’ Cf.
Evagr. v. 11. ¢ Theoph. Sim. iii. 10. 7. ¢ Theoph. Sim. iii. 11. 2.
© Theoph. Sim. iii. 10. 8-9. £ Theoph. Sim. iii. 11. 1. « Theoph. Sim. iii.
11, 2-3.

The Avars actually moved to the Danube in 561. See Jones, LRE 293-4
citing Joh. Eph. HE vi. 24; Men. Prot., frg. 9; Vict. Tonn. a.5 60. On their con-
tinuing threat, see Cameron, ed., Coripp. lust. 139-40. But here Theophanes
may have reused Mai. 489-90, which he had already used properly at AM
6050-51, this time redating it by an indiction to make up for his lack of infor-
mation, together with Joh. Eph. HE vi. 24 (Payne Smith, 430), who, after like-
wise putting the first contact in the reign of Justinian, says that in the reign
of Justin the Avars finally took control of Gepid lands along the Danube. Cf.
too AM 6050 with n. 14 there. Evagr.'s notice, placed immediately after the
loss of Dara (see below), has provided Theophanes with his date, although
Evagr. only says that Tiberius had been sent against the Avars ‘previously’.

* Tiberius, when still a notary, had been introduced to Justin by the patri-
arch Eutychios (V. Eutych. 66-7), i.e. in 5 52 or later. Justin evidently secured
the key post of comes excubitorum for his friend sometime between the end
of 562 (Marinus still held the post in Dec. 562: Mai. 495) and Justinian's
death in 565, as he was on hand to help secure Justin's election. See
Cameron ed., Coripp. lust. 138: Stein, Studien, 52 n. 12.

3 In fact Marcian, a nephew of Justin II. Cf. 6064d for the same error.
Theophanes has substituted here Martin, presumably meaning the Martin
of AM 6079.

* According to Theoph. Sim., it was in fact Archelaos' son Akakios who
was appointed. Theophanes Byzantinus, frg. 4 (FHG iv) has Theodore Tziros.

> Spring 574. The truce was arranged by the doctor Zacharias (Men. Prot.,

frgs. 37-8).

am 6067 [ad 574/5]’

Year of the divine Incarnation 567

Justin, emperor of the Romans (13 years), 10th year
Hormisdas, emperor of the Persians (15 years), 2nd year
John, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 10th year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 3rd year

366-

Chronographia AM 6048

John, bishop of Alexandria (11 years), 7th year
Gregory, bishop of Antioch (24 years), 5th year

uIn this year the emperor Justin, having adopted Tiberius the comes
excubitorum as his son, proclaimed him Caesar,” and made him sit
as his partner at the chariot races and on holidays. For the emperor's
feet were afflicted and he reclined for much of the time. °

* Cf. Theoph. Sim. iii. 11. 4.

* It appears that from this year Theophanes no longer has access to any
list of popes. See introduction, p. 1xxi.

* 7 Dec. 574. Theophanes has got the year right despite apparently rely-
ing on Theoph. Sim., who dates the proclamation to the gth indiction i.e.
575/6. Theophanes has, however, separated this proclamation from Justin's
abdication-speech which took place at the same time but which
Theophanes has delayed till Justin's last year in AM 6070.

[fam 6068, ad 575/6]

Justin, nth year
Hormisdas, 3rd year
John, nth year
John, 4th year

John, 8 thyear
Gregory, 6th year

In this year Justin repaired the great aqueduct of Valens and supplied
the city with abundant water.’

* Cf. AM 5860 and 6258. This is the latest evidence for restoring the aque-
duct system before it was cut by the Avars in 626.

[am 6069, ad 576/7]

Justin, 12th year
Hormisdas, 4th year
John, 12thyear
John, 5 th year

John, 9th year
Gregory, 7th year

In this year the emperor Justin took away the synagogue of the
Hebrews, the one in the Chalkoprateia, and built the church of our
Lady, the holy Mother of God, which is near the Great Church.’

367

249

AM 6051 Chronographia

In the same year on 31 August in the 10th indiction, John, the
bishop of Constantinople, died.”

* Cf. AM 5942, where the confiscation of the synagogue and its conversion
into a church are ascribed to Pulcheria. The Patria, following Geo. Mon.,
states that Justin II restored the church after an earthquake, endowing it
generously and adding a new chapel for the Virgin's girdle. Further details in
an opuscule by a certain presbyter Elias (gth cent.), ed. W. Lackner,
BvavTiva, 13/2 (1985), 851. This restoration must have led to the tradition
that Justin was the original builder. This would also suggest strongly that
Theophanes was either relying on a late source here, or was prepared to tam-
per with the material in his sources.

* The date appears to be correct.

[am 6070, ad 577/8]

Justin, 13th year

Hormisdas, 5 th year

Eutychios, bishop of Constantinople again (4 years), 1st year
John, 6th year

John, 10th year

Gregory, 8th year

In this year, in October of the nth indiction, Eutychios regained the
throne of Constantinople.’

The emperor, who was ill, but rallied a little from his sickness,
summoned the archbishop, the Senate, all the priests, and those who
held office. Having brought forward the Caesar Tiberius, he pro-
claimed him emperor in the presence of all, using these very words:*
‘Behold, it is God, not I, who has done you good and has conferred
this rank upon you. Honour it that you be honoured by it. Honour
your mother who was previously your queen. You know that first
you were her slave, but now you are her son. Do not rejoice in blood-
shed. Have no share in murder. Do not return evil for evil. Do not
become like me in enmity; for I have erred like a man. And having
erred, I have received according to my sins. But I shall bring to jus-
tice before Christ's tribunal those who have done that to me. Do not
let this rank elate you as it did me. But attend to all as you attend to
yourself. Remember who you were and who you are now. Do not be
arrogant, and you will not do wrong. You know who I was, and who
I became and what I am. All these are your children and your slaves.
Remember that I have honoured you ahead of my own blood. Those
whom you see here are the whole of the state. Pay attention to your
soldiery. Shun soldiers.? Let no one say of you that your predecessor

368-

Chronographia AM 6048

behaved in this way. For I speak from my own experience. Let those
who have possessions enjoy them; be bountiful to those who have
none.’ After a prayer by the patriarch and after all had said 'Amen’,
the Caesar fell before the emperor's feet and the emperor said to him,
If you wish it, I live; if you wish it not, I die. God himself, who made
heaven and earth, will plant in your heart all that I have forgotten to
tell you.’ As he was saying these things the emperor filled his audi-
ence with tears. u° When the gathering had been dismissed, Tiberius
distributed gifts to his subjects and everything else that is custom-
ary at imperial proclamations.

"Theoph. Sim. iii. 11. 7-13.

* Eustratios, V. Eutych. 76 (PG 86/2: 2361A), confirms the date as Sunday
3 Oct.

* For discussion of the speech, A. M. Cameron, BSI 37 (1976), 161-7. In
addition to Theophanes and his source, Theoph. Sim., versions of the speech
are recorded by Evagr. v. 13 and Joh. Eph. HE iii. 5.

Theophanes has transferred his speech from AM 6067 to mark the end of
Justin's reign and life. Theoph. Sim. and Joh. Eph. both make Tiberius’
proclamation as Caesar the occasion of the speech and give a precise date for
it, namely Friday 7 Dec. 574 (though Theoph. Sim. incorrectly gives the
indiction as 9 instead of 8).

3 For ‘soldiers’, de Boor restored ‘sycophants’ from Theoph. Sim.
‘Soldiers’, however, is not merely in all the MSS but has the support of
Anastasius’ translation as milites. Presumably Theophanes is stressing the
importance of maintaining a strong army while resisting the influence of
military men.

AM 6071 [AD 578/9]

Year of the divine Incarnation 571

Tiberius, emperor of the Romans (4 years), 1st year
Hormisdas, emperor of the Persians (15 years), 6th year
Eutychios, bishop of Constantinople (4 years), 2nd year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 7th year

John, bishop of Alexandria (11 years), nth year
Gregory, bishop of Antioch (24 years), gth year

Illn this year in the month of October,’ indiction r2, Tiberius
became emperor, having been crowned by the patriarch Eutychios,*
as already mentioned. He, too, was a Thracian by descent. When he
became emperor, the factions chanted in the Hippodrome, ‘Let me
know, let me know, the Augusta of the Romans’. Tiberius sent a
message saying, 'What is the name of the church which is opposite

369

250

AM 6051 Chronographia

the public baths of Dagistheus? The Augusta has the same name.’
The factions chanted, ‘Anastasia Augusta, tu vincas. Preserve, O
Lord, those whom you have ordered to rule.'? When Sophia, the wife
of Justin, heard this, she was stricken in her soul. For she wanted to
marry Tiberius and remain Augusta, but she did not know that he
had a wife.* Some said that even during Justin's lifetime, she had
taken Tiberius as her lover and she had persuaded Justin to make
him Caesar. But Tiberius brought in Anastasia, whom he had sent
for, she was his wife and he had two daughters by her, Charito and
Constantina.” He crowned her Augusta and distributed a large
amount as consular largess. 0°

" Cf. Theodosios of Melitene |ed. Tafel (Munich, 1859) ), 95; Joh. Eph. HE iii. 9
(Payne Smith, 181-2).

" Tiberius in fact became Augustus on Monday 26 Sept. 578, just nine
days before Tiberius’ death on 4 Oct. (Joh. Eph. HE iii. 6 ad fin.; Payne
Smith, 178) which Theophanes remarkably does not mention, though it has
presumably provided him with this date.

* Theophanes has not mentioned any coronation by Eutychios. The
proclamation of Tiberius as Caesar (see AM 6067) and consequently Justin's
speech of abdication (wrongly dated to AM 6070) would in fact have been
made in the presence of Eutychios' predecessor John Scholasticus. The
phrase ‘as already mentioned’ occurs in the same place in Joh. Eph. HE iii. 9
ad init. (Payne Smith, 181), who preserves a more detailed and accurate
account of the following incident, which probably reflects Theophanes'
source.

3 Joh. Eph. HE iii. 9 (Payne Smith, 182) makes the event a renaming of
Tiberius’ wife, whose original name was Ino, with the two factions fighting
for the honour, the Greens suggesting ‘Helena’ and the Blues ‘Anastasia’,
neither name having any Christological significance but just being good
Christian names. See Cameron, Circus Factions, 146.

4 Joh. Eph. HE iii. 7-8 (Payne Smith, 178-80) shows that Sophia and Justin
certainly knew of Ino's existence; and that Sophia had been putting pressure
on Tiberius to get rid of Ino and had prevented Tiberius, while Justin was
alive, from introducing Ino into the palace.

> Joh. Eph. twice refers to three daughters {HE iii. 7-8, Payne Smith,
179-80) but confirms that Ino only brought two to the palace (iii. 9, Payne
Smith, 182).

Greg. Tur. HF v. 30 states that Sophia was behind a plot by Justinian's
grandnephew Justinian (cf. AM 6072) to get rid of Tiberius on his way to be
acclaimed in the Hippodrome. See Stein, RE x/2. 1310-13, Iustinianus 2;
Cameron, Circus Factions, 268-9.

370-

Chronographia AM 6048

[am 6072, ad 579/80]

Tiberius, 2nd year

Hormisdas, 7th year

Eutychios, 3rd year

John, 8th year

Eulogios, bishop of Alexandra (27 years), 1st year
Gregory, 10th year

Illn this year the emperor Tiberius built the palace that is by the har-
bour of Julian and named it after Sophia, the wife of Justin.’ He
established her in it,* granted her cubicularii for her own service,
commanded that she be honoured as his mother, built her a bath and
every other amenity.I\*° He dispatched envoys to the emperor of the
Persians to inform him, as was customary, of his accession.* The
emperor of the Persians did not accept peace. Thereupon Tiberius
gathered great forces and scattered the imperial funds to create more
armies. He appointed a certain Justinian’ magister militum per
Orientem, who took command of the forces and came before Daras.
Likewise the Persians, commanded by Tamchosroes, made camp
near them. When their lines had been drawn up, they parleyed and
reached a mutual agreement whereby the Romans and the Persians
would cause no damage in the East for a three-year period, but would
continue hostilities in Armenia.I\?

"Cf. Joh. Eph. we iii. 7, 10, 23 (Payne Smith, 178, 185, 203-4). > Theoph.

Sim. iii. 12. 2-10.

* Other sources attribute the Sophiai palace to Justin or Sophia. A. M.
Cameron, 2y: 37 (1967), 11-20, citing Coripp. mss i. 97, shows that it was
built before Justin became emperor.

* Joh. Eph. uz iii. 10 (Payne Smith, 185); cf. iii. 7 (Payne Smith, 178), con-
firms Tiberius’ scrupulous honouring of Sophia (‘You are my mother: Dwell
here and command me whatever you wish’), but maintains that not only did
Sophia remain in the palace but that (iii. 23, Payne Smith, 203-4) Tiberius
was left with such little space for himself that he had to remodel and extend
the palace at great expense, including a bath and stables. Theophanes is per-
haps referring to the same works.

3 The envoys in fact went to announce Tiberius’ appointment as Caesar
in Dec. 574, setting out in early spring 575, as is clear in Theoph. Sim. The
remaining material for this year also refers to 575.

* Son of Germanus (cf. AM 6026) and brother of the Justin executed in 5 66
(cf. AM 6063), a great-nephew of the emperor Justinian and a distant cousin
of Justin II.

251

AM 605 I Chronographia

[am 6073, ad 580/1]

Tiberius, 3rd year
Hormisdas, 8th year
Eutychios, 4th year
John, gthyear'
Eulogios, 2nd year
Gregory, nth year

IllIn this year the emperor of the Persians gathered his forces and
marched to Armenia.’ When the Roman general heard that the
Persian emperor was planning to make war in person, he became
unnerved; for fear came upon the army of the Romans. And so
Justinian made a speech to the army to put an end to such cowardice
among the troops.I\"

When battle was joined, the arrows of the Persians were so thick
that they hid the rays of the sun.*, The Romans, repulsing the show-
ers of arrows with their shields, began the battle in close order.ll"
The Roman formation was so deep that the Persians were unable to
withstand it. n° And the mass of the Babylonians was turned in flight
and a great many were killed. The Romans captured the Persian bag-
gage, the royal tent and all of its magnificent equipment. The
Romans even captured the elephants and sent Tiberius these notable
and royal spoils. Accordingly the Persian emperor, unable to bear
this disgrace, decreed that in future no Persian emperor was to cam-
paign in person.I]“? The Roman army exploited the Persians’ mis-
fortunes by advancing deep into Persian territory where they took
many captives and wrought much destruction, reaching up to the
middle of the Hyrcanian sea.* When winter came, the Romans did
not return home, but wintered in Persia. n®

In the same year Tiberius began to build the public bath at
Blachernai and restored many churches, hostels, and houses for the
aged. IiHe directed his name be written into the official documents
as Tiberius Constantine. 11°

" Theoph. Sim. iii. 12. n-13. 2i; cf. Evagr. v. 14. >’ Theoph. Sim. iii. 14. 6-7.
° Theoph. Sim. iii. 14. 4-5. ¢ Theoph. Sim. iii. 14. 8-n; cf. Evagr. v. 14-15.
e Theoph. Sim. iii. 15. i-2; cf. Evagr. v. 14. > Cf. Joh. Eph. ve iii. 23 (Payne
Smith, 203).

" Theoph. Sim. makes this follow immediately the events of AM 6072 i.e.
in fact 575. Whitby, Simoc. 91, citing Men. Prot., frg. r8. 6 (frg. 41 in FHG
iv), shows that the date is 576.

* A recollection of Dieneces' famous saying at the battle of Thermopylae
(Herodotus vii. 226).

372-

Chronographia AM6048

3 The absence of any reference to either battle or victory in Joh. Eph. HE
vi.8-9 (the most detailed account of Khusro's invasion) suggests that it was
an invention, as Whitby, Simoc. 95 n. 6s, observes. Nevertheless, all
accounts agree that the Persian emperor retreated and made the decree
about not campaigning in person in future. For a discussion of this decree,
cf. M. Whitby, 'The Persian King at War’, in E. DAbrowa, ed., The Roman
and Byzantine Army in the East (Cracow, 1994), 227-31.

4 i.e. The Caspian. > They returned in 577, cf. Joh. Eph. HE vi. 10.

fam 6074, ad 581/2]

Tiberius, 4th year

Hormisdas, 9th year

John, bishop of Constantinople (13 years), 1st year
John, 10th year

Eulogios, 3rd year

Gregory, 12th year

IlIn this year on 6 April, indiction 15, the patriarch Eutychios died
and after six days John the Faster, a deacon of the Great Church, was
ordained. n° The emperor Tiberius, having bought contingents of
aliens, formed them into an army bearing his own name, 15,000
men' whom he clothed and armed.Il° He appointed as their general
Maurice,II* the comes foederatorum, with Narses* as his second-in-
command. 1iThen he sent them against the Persians. A great war was
fought, in which the Romans were victorious through strength of
arms.lI‘ They took away from the Persians the cities and lands
which the latter had captured in the times of Justinian and Justin.
When Maurice returned to Constantinople, he was received with
great honour by the emperor. Tiberius celebrated a triumph for
Maurice's victories and acquired him as his son-in-law [by marriage]
to his own daughter Constantina.* Similarly he joined his daughter
Charito to the general Germanus and made both Maurice and
Germanus Caesars.*

On 14 August, indiction 15, after eating early mulberries that
looked marvellous but were spoilt, he fell into a consumption. Being
on the point of death, he summoned the patriarch John and the
Senate together with the army to the Tribunal.’ He was carried in on
a litter, and being unable to speak, he announced to the populace by
means of a prepared statement what was advantageous for the affairs
of the Romans, and proclaimed his own son-in-law Maurice as
emperor.° After everyone had acclaimed the emperor's wish and

373

252

AM 6051 Chronographia

Maurice as emperor, -Tiberius, having gone back to his couch, u®
died,’ having ruled for three years, ten months, and eight days.

"Cf. Joh. Eph. we iii. 39 (Payne Smith, 234). > Cf. Evagr. v. 14. <=Cf.
Evagr. v. 19. ¢ Cf. Evagr. v. 19. " Cf. Theoph. Sim. i. 1. 2-4, 21-23.

" Evagr. has an impossibly large 150,000. Theophanes' figure has more
chance of being historically accurate, but that is little help in determining
the figure his source may have claimed.

* Narses is perhaps the same Narses mentioned at AM 6079, 6081, and
6095-7 (PLRE iii. 933-5, Narses 10), but may possibly be the cubicutarius
Narses (cf. AM 6063), who died in 581 (Pz RE iii. 930-1, Narses 4). He is not
the famous general of Justinian's reign (Pz Re iii. 912-28, Narses 1).

3 Only Theophanes mentions the triumph. chron Pasch. 690. 8 records
that Maurice was appointed Caesar on 5 Aug. Presumably the dynastic
arrangements were announced then too, but Chron. Pasch. implies this
occurred at the proclamation of Maurice as Augustus on 13 Aug.

* Presumably Tiberius was leaving his options open about the succes-
sion. Germanus, however, as governor of Africa at the time of Tiberius’ sud-
den death, may have been at a geographical disadvantage.

> Meaning the tribunal at the Hebdomon, not the one in the Imperial
Palace. See below, n. 7.

° 13 Aug.

7 According to Chron. Pasch. 690. 13, Tiberius died at the Hebdomon.

am 6075 [ad 582/3]

Year of the divine Incarnation 575

Maurice, emperor of the Romans (20 years), 1st year
Hormisdas, emperor of the Persians (15 years), 10th year
John, bishop of Constantinople (13 years), 2nd year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), nth year

Eulogios, bishop of Alexandria (27 years), 4th year
Gregory, bishop of Antioch (24 years), 13th year

In this year Maurice became emperor, being 43 years old. 1 Soon
afterwards, when his father Paul had come to Byzantium, he cele-
brated his marriage.I\* Marites,’ who was chief eunuch of the palace,
was best man.ll°

uIn April there was a conflagration in the Forum, and squalls of
wind fanned the fire which destroyed many houses.I1© On 10 May
there was a big earthquake; everyone sought refuge in the churches
and the anniversary chariot races were not held.II
+ IlIn the same month the Avars sent an embassy to the emperor
Maurice.II* A little earlier they had captured Sermium,* a notable

374-

Chionogiaphia AM 6076

city in Europe, and now demanded that the 80,000 gold pieces which
they received annually from the Romans should be increased by
another 20,000. The emperor, out of eagerness for peace, accepted
this. [The Chagan] asked for an elephant, an Indian animal, to be
sent to him so he could look at it. The emperor sent to him the
largest one of all. After gazing at it, the Chagan sent it back to
the emperor. Likewise he asked for a golden bed to be sent to him.
The emperor sent it and again the Chagan returned it after disparag-
ing it. He then asked for another 20,000 to be added to the 100,000.
When the emperor refused, the Chagan marched out, destroyed the
city of Singidunum? and captured many other cities belonging to
Illyricum. He seized Anchialos* and threatened to destroy the Long
Walls.IK The emperor sent out the patrician’ Elpidios with
Komentiolos as ambassadors to the Chagan.lis The barbarian vowed
to keep the peace in accordance with the terms of the treaty. I \P

Iln the East the emperor made John Mystakon general® of
Armenia. Having come to the river Nymphios,’ where it joins the
Tigris, he clashed in war with Kardarigas, the general of the Persians,
and the Romans vanquished the barbarians. (Kardarigas is not a
proper name, but is the highest rank among the Persians.) But
Krous,® the second-in-command, out of jealousy and envy, retreated.
When the rest of the Romans saw him, they too turned and barely
reached their palisade.' When a second clash took place, the
Romans were defeated and many of them were destroyed. u1'

: d

* Theoph. sim. i. 10. 1. > pia tie. 8. © Ibid. i, 11. 1-2. Ibid,
i. 12. 8-11. 8 Ibid. i. 3. 3. f Ibid. i. 3. 3-4. 4, 4. 8. « Ibid. i. 4. 6-7.
» Ibid. i. 6. 4-5. ' Thid. i. 9. 4-11. ' Thid. i. 12. 4.

* 'Margarites' in Theoph. Sim.

* Near Sremska Mitrovica in the former Yugoslavia.

The modern Belgrade.

The modern Pomorie in Bulgaria on the Black Sea.

Probably Theophanes' misunderstanding of Theoph. Sim.'s 'senator'.
Le. magister militum. Se@ PLRE iii. 679-681, Ioannes 101.

The Batman. 8 i.e. Cours, prre iii. 360-1.

au aw

[AM 6076, AD 583/4]

Maurice, 2nd year
Hormisdas, 1th year
John, 3rd year

John, 12 th year

375

253

AM 6051 Chronographia

Eulogios, 5 th year
Gregory, 14th year

In this year on 25 December, indiction 2, lithe emperor was pro-
claimed consul’ and gave much treasure to the City.I 1* He promoted
Philippikos as magister militum per Orientem after making him his
brother-in-law through his sister Gordia. Philippikos set out for
Persian territory and came close to Nisibis. He invaded Persia sud-
denly and took a great number of prisoners. When Kardarigas, the
Persian general, learned this, he set a trap seeking to ambush the
Roman armies. But Philippikos, keeping his prisoners secure,
invaded the land of the Medes by going over the mountains,
destroyed many places in Media, and then returned to Roman terri-
tory. I Ng

lIThe Chagan” hastened to break the peace through treachery. For
he armed the tribes of the Sklavini against Thrace. They wrought
much devastation, coming as far as the Long Walls. The emperor,
after leading out the palace guard and the demes? from the City,
ordered them to protect the Long Walls. He appointed Komentiolos
as general, equipped his forces, and sent him out against the barbar-
ians. He fell upon the barbarians unexpectedly, destroyed a great
many of them, and drove them back. When he reached Adrianople*
he came upon Ardagastos who was leading a mass of Sklavini> along
with their captives. He fell upon him, saved the captives, and gained
a great victory. II

" Theoph. Sim. i. 12. 12-13. > Cf. Ibid. i. 13. 2-9. © Ibid. i. 6. 6-7. 6.

" Presumably just for the remaining week of 583, perhaps to avoid the
expenses involved in the position (so M. Hendy, smdies in the Byzantine
Monetary Economy _ c.300-1450 (Cambridge, 1985) , 193) : Chron. Pasch.
records this year as being without a consul and dates Maurice's consulship
to 584.

* Theophanes has correctly recognized that Theoph. Sim.'s separate
accounts of the Persian and Avar campaigns belong to the same year.

3 Theophanes has inserted ‘and the demes' into Theoph. Sim.'s account,
perhaps from another source or perhaps his own invention. It is unclear
whether 'demes' here implies citizens in general or the circus factions. Cf.
AM 6051 for citizen defence of the Long Walls.

4 Theophanes has here combined two separate campaigns. Theoph. Sim.
states this occurred in the following summer, presumably in 585.

> Whitby, simoc. 28 n. 33, suggests that Theoph. Sim. (Theophanes'
source here) may have exaggerated Avar control over the Slavs, who may
well have crossed into Roman territory to escape from the Avars.

376-

Chionogiaphia AM 6076

[am 6077, ad 584/5]

Maurice, 3rd year
Hormisdas, 12th year
John, 4th year

John, 13th year
Eulogios, 6th year
Gregory, 15 th year

Illn this year Philippikos, taking up the army, set out for Persian ter-
ritory.. He reached Arzanene,” where he won many captives and
brought fear to the Persian army. But falling ill, Philippikos went to
Martyropolis,* after appointing Anepsich to command the troops
with Stephen as commander of the tagmata.* Kardarigas attacked
Martyropolis, burned all its suburbs, and then retired. Philippikos
returned ill to Constantinople and the army retired home safely. I \*

IlIn the same year a son was born to the emperor who named him
Theodosios.11

- Theoph. Sim. i. 14. 1-10. * Cf. Joh. Eph. we v. 14.

" Theoph. Sim. seems to support the date. Philippikos, while magister
militum, notably asked for relics of St Symeon to be sent from Antioch to
protect the eastern armies.(Evagr. i. 13).

* The Persian frontier district east of the Nymphios.

3 Modern Silvan in eastern Turkey.

‘ Theophanes is misleading. Theoph. Sim. makes it clear that Stephen
was commander-in-chief and Anepsich (Apsich in Theoph. Sim.) was sec-
ond-in-command.

> 4 Aug. 583 according to Joh. Eph.

[am 6078, ad 585/6]

Maurice, 4th year
Hormisdas, 13th year
John, 5th year

John, 14thyear
Eulogios, 7th year
Gregory, 16th year

[ln this year’ Philippikos left the imperial city and encamped by the
city of Amida.ll" Having mustered the soldiers, he asked them if
they were eager to march to war. When the Romans had assured him
under oath that they would wage war eagerly, he advanced to
Arzamon.|!>? When Kardarigas’ learned this, he dismissed the report

377

2555

AM 605 1 Chronographia

with a laugh, believing it was a dream. Having summoned the magi,
he asked them who would gain the victory. These worshippers of
demons alleged that the Persians would be given victory by the gods.
So the Persians rejoiced at this, gladdened by the promises of the
magi, and immediately began making wooden fetters of timber and
iron to put on the Romans. The Roman general exhorted the troops
not to harm the farmers’ work, so that the justice of God (which
hates evil) would not transfer the victory to the barbarians. On the
following day the general sent out two phylarchs of the Saracens,
who captured some Persians alive, through whom they found out
about their opponents’ movements. These men claimed that the bar-
barians planned to attack the Romans on the Lord's day. So, early in
the morning, Philippikos drew up the Romans in three phalanxes
and went to meet the enemy. He himself, taking up the image of the
God-man,* which the Romans believe not to have been made by
human hands, went through the ranks and gave the soldiers a share
of the divine power. Standing behind the marshalled ranks and clasp-
ing this weapon, he propitiated the divine with many tears, I I‘ and so
received additional help from the heavenly host.* When battle was
joined, Vitalian, the taxiarch, moving more boldly than all the oth-
ers, broke the Persian phalanx and captured their baggage.° The
Romans began to busy themselves with plunder. When Philippikos
saw them, he became afraid that the rest would also turn to plunder
and forget their battle-line and that the barbarians would wheel
around and destroy them. So he placed his own helmet on Theodore
llibinos and sent him out to strike with his sword those who were
engrossed in the spoils. When they saw him, believing he was
Philippikos, they left the spoils and went back to battle. After the
fighting had continued for many hours, a command came from the
general’ to strike the Persian horses with their spears. When this had
been done, the Persian army was routed and the Romans won a great
victory. They killed many men whose bodies they stripped.* On the
next day Kardarigas gathered his forces and armed them for battle
once again. In the second encounter the Romans were again victori-
ous and many Persians were killed. Two thousand? of them were
captured alive and sent to Byzantium.I\* Kardarigas sought refuge in
Daras,° but the Persians sent him away with much abuse.
Philippikos sent out his second-in-command Herakleios (the father
of the emperor Herakleios) to spy on the barbarians, I 1* while he him-
self conveyed those who had been wounded in the campaign to the
cities for medical treatment. I \fAfter gathering his forces, he invaded
Babylonia” and besieged the fort of Chlomaron.lls* Kardarigas
enlisted peasants with their beasts of burden and, having collected

378-

Chronographia AM 6048

this mob, boasted that he had an army on campaign.I Going
through secure places on a dark night, he reached the rear of the
Romans, by no means daring to attack them. 1' But an untimely fear
came upon Philippikos who, leaving the fort, fled without reason.
When the Romans realized this, they turned to flight and fell into
great danger in country that was hard to traverse. For the night was
moonless. When the sun rose, they escaped misfortune. After they
reached the general, they abused him with the vilest insults. The
Persians, believing that the flight had been feigned, did not dare to
pursue them.l!]' Herakleios, after crossing the Tigris, set on fire all
the more important places of the Median country and then returned
to Philippikos with much booty. 11°?

° Theoph. Sim. i. 15. 1. > Ibid. i. 15. 15. <= Ibid. ii. 1. 7-3. 6.
4 Ibid. ii. 4. 1-5. 3. © Ibid. ii. 5. 7-11. f Ibid. ii. 6. 12. « Ibid. ii. 7.
6 » Tbid. ii. 8. 1. * Ibid. ii. 8. 11. ' Ibid. ii. 9. 1-13. k Tbid,
ii. 10. 1-4.

* The date is correct,

* i.e. the river Arzamon (modern Zergan), south of the Tur Abdin.

3 'Kardarigan’ in Theoph. Sim.

* Whitby, Simoc. 46 n. 8, suggests this was probably either the Camuli-
ana image, which had been taken to Constantinople in 574, or the image of
Edessa. On proper religious preparation for battle, see Maur. Stmt. ii. 18.

> This is apparently Theophanes' addition, either to parallel the earthly
taxiarchs in the next sentence (‘host is 'taxiarch’), or perhaps a sign of an
increased importance attached to the archangels by the gth cent. Vitalian is
Vitalius in Theoph. Sim.

° 'Baggage' is touldon in Greek, for which Theoph. Sim. apologizes, but
which is acceptable in the more relaxed language of Theophanes' chronicle.

7 In Theoph. Sim. the troops mistakenly believe the command is from
the captain (lochagos) Stephen, but in fact it is from a mysterious and
unidentified divine source. It is unusual for Theophanes to ignore the oppor-
tunity provided by his source to note divine intervention.

8 This sentence is not in Theoph. Sim. but it may represent Theoph.
Sim.'s rhetorical account of the distribution of the spoils at ii. 6. 10-11.
From here to the end of 'e', Theophanes has failed to understand Theoph.
Sim.'s difficult Greek. There was no second battle.

° 'More than a thousand’, Theoph. Sim.

*° Theoph. Sim. states that Dara was 12 miles from the scene of the bat-
tle; which shows, as Whitby, Simoc. 48 n. 13, points out, that the Romans
‘had in fact advanced several miles to the east of the river Arzamon’.

“ 'Invaded Babylonia’ is not in Theoph. Sim.

* The chief town of Arzanene and the seat of the Persian governor, it had
been unsuccessfully besieged by Maurice in 578. See Whitby, Simoc. 52n. 18.

"With much booty’ is not in Theoph. Sim.

379

257

258

AM 6063 Chronographia

am 6079 [ad 586/7]

Year of the divine Incarnation 579

Maurice, emperor of the Romans (20 years), 5th year
Hormisdas, emperor of the Persians (15 years), 14th year
John, bishop of Constantinople (13 years), 6th year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 15th year

Eulogios, bishop of Alexandria (27 years), 8th year
Gregory, bishop of Antioch (24 years), 17th year

IlIn this year’ the Chagan of the Avars, after breaking the peace
treaty, made war on Mysia and Scythia, where he wrought terrible
destruction on Ratiarna,” Bononia,*? Akys,* Dorostolos,? Zardapa,°
and Markianoupolis.il"? Komentiolos went to Anchialos® and, after
dividing his army, segregated the worthless from the brave. He
ordered the non-effective force of 40,000° to protect the ramparts;
the select troops numbered 6,000, of which he handed 2,000 to
Castus, 2,000 to Martin, and, taking 2,000 himself, he marched
against the barbarians. Castus, having come to Zardapa and the
Haimos” and finding that the barbarians were in disorder, destroyed
many of them. Having taken a large number of captives, he gave
them to a bodyguard for safe keeping. Martin, having reached the
district near the city of Tomis,” came upon the Chagan unexpect-
edly and killed many of his force, so that the latter had to purchase
his safety by flight. Having gained this glorious victory, Martin
returned to the spot where the general had promised to wait for
them. But Komentiolos, overcome by cowardice,” had retreated to
Markianoupolis. When they could not find him, they collected their
own forces and encamped by the narrow passages of the Haimos. [1°
When Martin saw the Chagan crossing the river, he returned to his
general. But Castus crossed the river and drew close to the vanguard
of the Avars whom he defeated in battle. But, prompted by some
dark demon, he did not return to the general. On the next day the
Chagan occupied the crossings and hemmed him in. Accordingly,
the troops were split and each man fled through the woods as best he
could. Some, who were captured by the barbarians, revealed where
Castus was hidden. When he had been taken alive, the barbarians
danced around him in exultation.I I‘'* The Chagan, marching by way
of Mesembria,”* moved against Thrace and reached the Long
Walls.*° Komentiolos, who had hidden in the forests of the Haimos,
came out with Martin. 1\°" Having caught the Chagan completely
unprepared, with the mass of his barbarians scattered across Thrace,
he marched against him at the first watch. He would have won great
success from this attempt had he not missed his goal by ill luck. For

380

Chionogiaphia AM 6076

when the load on one animal had slipped, a man called to the ani-
mal's master to put the load right, speaking in his native tongue,
Torna, torna, fiatei."® The driver of the mule did not hear the words,
but the army heard them and suspecting that the enemy were upon
them, turned to flight shouting toina, torna in loud voices. Even so,
the Chagan fled headlong with great cowardice, and one could see
Avars and Romans running away from each other with no one in
pursuit. II° After gathering his forces, the Chagan besieged the city of
Apeiria.’”? After capturing Bousas, the city's engineer, the Chagan
prepared to kill him. But Bousas offered to give him a large sum of
money if his life was spared. So those who had bound him brought
him before the city and Bousas asked the city's inhabitants to ran-
som him, relating all his services on the city's behalf. But one citi-
zen persuaded the crowd not to do this, the story being that he was
sleeping with Bousas' wife. So when Bousas was spurned, he
promised to hand over the city to the Chagan, and, after construct-
ing a siege-machine which they call a ram, captured the city. The
barbarians, having learned this technique, enslaved a great many
other cities and returned with a large body of captives.IK*® When
the Byzantines heard that Castus had been taken prisoner by the bar-
barians, they abused Maurice greatly and insulted him openly. I Is
uAt this time Herakleios, the father of Herakleios, attacked a
Persian fort and captured it.ll* Similarly Theodore took the fort of
Mazaron.” Both then went to Beioudes. 1’ Since that fort was strong,
a certain soldier named Sappheres contrived some stakes and, insert-
ing them in the joins of the masonry, made the ascent. When he
climbed up to the top of the wall a Persian pushed him off. So
Sappheres fell down and the Romans caught him on their shields. He
again made the bold attempt and was again pushed off the wall and
again the Romans caught him on their shields and again he made his
attempt. When he got to the top of the wall, he beheaded the Persian.
Then he threw down the head as though it were consular largess,”
and filled the Romans with confidence. After many had imitated his
valour and, using the pegs, had climbed the wall, the fort was
surrendered to the Romans, who killed some of the Persians, took
others as prisoners along with their equipment* and the fort.
Philippikos again made his way to Byzantium, leaving Herakleios as
commander of the Romans.II' When he got to Tarsos and learned
that the emperor had appointed and sent out Priscus as magister mil-
itum per Orientem, he wrote to Herakleios to leave the army to
Narses and to go to Armenia” and to inform him of Priscus' coming.
For the emperor (who had the disease of avarice)** had ordered
Philippikos to deprive the army of a quarter of their pay.1*”

381

259

260

261

AM 6063 Chronographia

Philippikos, out of fear that this would provoke an uprising, did not
obey the emperor and because of this forfeited his command.”°
IIPriscus, after reaching Antioch, ordered the soldiers to gather at
Monokarton.”” He summoned Germanus, who had been entrusted
with the governorship of Edessa, together with the bishop,”® and set
out with them for the camp in order to celebrate Easter with them.
The officers of the army met him with the standards two miles from
the camp. But Priscus, contrary to custom, did not dismount from
his horse nor did he use the customary greetings. This was the ori-
gin of the dislike shown to him. For soldiers do not take kindly to
being insulted in public. After Easter he haughtily revealed the
emperor's rescript. Thereupon the soldiers rushed in a body on the
general's tent, some with swords, others with stones, and others
with sticks. Priscus became thoroughly scared, mounted his horse,
and fled speedily from the danger. The soldiers broke into his tent
and looted all his possessions. When he reached Constantia he was
treated by physicians for his bruises from the stoning and for other
wounds.I!! He dispatched the city's bishop to plead his case to the
army, promising that he would persuade the emperor not to deprive
them of any of their customary pay. The army dismissed the bishop
with insults and proclaimed Germanus as general against his will,
raising him aloft on a shield, and they overturned the imperial stat-
ues and destroyed his images.”? And they would have gone as far as
actual revolt and would have looted the cities had not Germanus
prevented them by his many admonitions and exhortations.il™
Priscus informed the emperor about all this and the emperor reap-
pointed Philippikos as magistei militum pei Oiientem.

Priscus then returned to Byzantium, but the army confirmed on
oath that they would by no means accept Maurice as emperor. The
barbarians revelled in these misfortunes of the Romans.u" The
emperor sent out Aristoboulos, the curator of the imperial estates,”°
to the army in order to put an end to the revolt by oaths and gifts,
which he did. Once the revolt had been ended, a very great battle
took place between the Persians and the Romans at Martyropolis.*
The Romans by their power and leadership overcame the Persians,
and the Persian general, Marouzas, was killed. 3,000 were taken
alive including the taxiarchs of the Persian tagmata. Only a thou-
sand were saved who got back to Persia with difficulty. The Romans
sent to the emperor many of the Persian spoils and all the prisoners
together with their standards. n°

Maurice built the Carian portico at Blachernai and had painters
depict in it all his deeds from his childhood until his reign. He also
completed the public bath which is at the portico.

382

Chronographia AM 6048

" Theoph. sim. i. 8. 1-10. > Ibid. ii. 10. 8-11. 4. © Tbid. ii. 11. 10-12.
3 Ibid. ii. 11. 5-12. © Cf. Ibid. ii. 15. 2-11. ff tbia. ii. 15. 13-16.
11. « Ibid. ii, 17. 5. * Tbid. ii, 18. 1-6. ‘Ibid. ii, 18. 7-8.
' Ibid. ii, 18. 15-26. * pid. iii. 1. 1-2. " Ibid. iii, 1. 3-15. ™ Tbid,
iii, 2. 2-8. " Tbid. iii, 2. 11-3. 8. ° Ibid. iii. 3. 11-4. 4.

" Theophanes has accurately deduced the date from Theoph. Sim.'s
rather obscure narrative and has also noted Theoph. Sim.'s division of the
narrative between books 1 and 2.

* 'Rateria’ in Theoph. Sim., it is the modern Arcar on the south bank of
the Danube in Bulgaria.

3 Modern Vidin on the south bank of the Danube in Bulgaria.

* Probably Gamzigrad in the Timok valley in the former Yugoslavia.

> 'Dorostolon' in Theoph. Sim., it is the modern Silistra on the south
bank of the Danube in Bulgaria.

® 'Zaldapa' in Theoph. Sim., it is the modern Abrit, near Loznica on the
Bulgarian-Romanian frontier.

7 By the modern Devnja in Bulgaria. Theophanes omits Pannasa (in the
Haimos mountains) and Tropaion from Theoph. Sim.'s list. Theoph. Sim.,
and consequently Theophanes too, do not have the list in the likely order of
destruction. See Whitby, Simoc. 31 n. 45.

8 Modern Pomorie on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria.

° 4,000 in Theoph. Sim., a more likely figure.

“The modern Constanta on the Black Sea coast of Romania.
Theophanes takes over Theoph. Sim.'s bias against Komentiolos
which begins here. See Whitby, Simoc. 58 n. 31.

° In Theoph. Sim. Komentiolos is the subject of this sentence.
Theophanes is having understandable difficulty in following Theoph. Sim.'s
awkward narrative.

‘4 Theophanes, who in general has simplified Theoph. Sim.'s account of
the capture of Castus, has added 'the barbarians danced around him in exul-
tation’.

® De Boor mistakenly failed to capitalize Mesembria. Cf. Theoph. Sim.
ii. 12. 6.

‘© Theophanes has inferred this from Theoph. Sim., who merely states
that a detachment of the Romans fled towards the Long Walls but were cap-
tured.

7 The reference to Martin is not in Theoph. Sim.

8 A standard military command for an about-turn. Cf. Maur. Strat. iii. 5.
44. See M. Whitby, Byz 52 (1982), 426-7, and 53 (1983), 327-8; H. Mihaescu,
Bv‘avTiva, 8 (1976), 21 ff. Theophanes' account is much clearer than
Theoph. Sim.'s and may be based on a separate chronicle source.

‘9 'Appiareia’' in Theoph. Sim. (correctly), the modern Tutrakan, on the
south bank of the Danube in Bulgaria.

*° In fact the Avars failed to capture any of the cities which they besieged
immediately afterwards. See Whitby, Simoc. 66-7 n. 39.

383

AM 6051 Chronographia

* In Theoph. Sim. the credit is given to Theodore and Andrew, who
should be the 'both' of the following sentence rather than Herakleios and
Theodore. Mazaron (modern Maserte) is about 16 km. from Bejoudes (mod-
ern Fafi) in the Tur Abdin. Bejoudes had been a Roman fort which the
Persians had presumably captured, perhaps during the siege of Dara. See
Whitby, simoc. 69 nN. 47.

* "Consular largess’ is Theophanes' addition, despite his general attempt
at avoiding the extremely florid language of Theoph. Sim.'s description.

*3 Narses (cf. prre iii. 933-5, Narses ro) was based at Constantina
(Viran§ehir). Herakleios was probably magister mititum for Armenia. For
Priscus see PLRE iii. 1052-7, Priscus 6.

*4 Perhaps Theophanes' own comment, but the same judgement occurs
in Joh. Nik. 95.1 (Charles, 151) and Joh. Eph. wz v. 20 (Payne Smith, 358).

* Cf. Evagr. vi. 4. Whitby, simoc. 72 n. 2, suggests that this may have
been compensated by an improvement in service conditions.

8 Theoph. Sim.'s language certainly implies (incorrectly) that Germanus
was the bishop of Damascus, whereas Theophanes rightly recognizes that he
was a government official (presumably the «ux of Phoenice Libanensis). This
detail seems to make it clear that Theophanes has a source here other than
Theoph. Sim. See in general Whitby, 2): 53 (1983), 312-45, though not com-
menting on this example. The alternative is to assume a lacuna in our text of
Theoph. Sim. at iii. r. 3. See de Boor's note ad loc., followed in prez iii. 529.

*9 Theophanes does not follow Theoph. Sim.'s order of events although
giving the same information, again suggesting Theophanes has both
Theoph. Sim. and Theoph. Sim.'s source.

Curator Of the estate of Antiochus (cf. AM 6053).

3 The battle of Martyropolis took place in 588: cf. AM 6080. But that was
a Persian victory. Theophanes reasonably deduced that Marousas was
killed, although Theoph. Sim. simply says 'the Persian general’. However at
AM 6080, Theophanes has Marousas killed at the castle of Lethe.

am 6080 [ad 587/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 580

Maurice, emperor of the Romans (20 years), 6th year
Hormisdas, emperor of the Persians (15 years), 15th year
John, bishop of Constantinople (13 years), 7th year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 16th year

Eulogios, bishop of Alexandria (27 years), 9th year
Gregory, bishop of Antioch (24 years), 18th year

In this year, in the month of September, indiction 6, lithe Lombards
made war on the Romans and the tribes of the Moors caused great

trouble in Africa.||"'

384-

Chronographia AM 6048

Illn Persia there is a prison called Lethe’ in which the emperor of
the Persians had shut up many people from various races along with
the prisoners from the city of Daras. They, despairing for their lives,
rose up against their guards and having killed Marousas, they took
his head with them and went to Byzantium.’ The emperor received
them with great joy. n° The army barely recognized Philippikos as its
general. 1° In a battle, which took place between Persians and
Romans at Martyropolis, the Romans were defeated. I!‘ The emperor,
after relieving Philippikos once more of his command, sent
Komentiolos as magister militum per Orientem. After arriving close
to Nisibis, Komentiolos clashed with the Persians at Sarbanon.*
Herakleios, the father of Herakleios, won great glory in the battle
and killed the Persian general. After Aphraates'’ death the Persians
were routed and pursued by the Romans, who took many captives.
They also seized the baggage and sent quantities of booty to
Byzantium. The emperor cheered the city with displays of horse-
racing and public festivals, and celebrated the victories with a tri-
umph.II®

llHormisdas, (the emperor of the Persians), after appointing Baram
as general,’ sent him with a large army to Souania,’ where he made
an unexpected attack so that the Turks were thoroughly defeated by
the Persians. This so strengthened Hormisdas that he was able to
exact a tribute of 40,000 gold coins from the Turks, whereas previ-
ously he had been paying the Turks the same amount. 1 f Baram, who
had gained much glory in this war, made his camp by the river
Araxes,’ and when Maurice learned this, he appointed Romanus as
general and sent him to Souania with an army. After Romanus had
reached Lazica and came to the river Phasis, he began campaigning
in Albania. When Baram heard that the Roman army had arrived, he
poured scorn on their efforts and was eager to try out the Romans in
battle. For he had not previously fought against the Romans. So he
crossed the adjoining river to try to draw the Romans deeper into
Persian territory.I Is Romanus divided the Roman force, leaving the
inexperienced men with the baggage. He took 10,000 select troops
and marched against the barbarians, with 2,000 ordered to act as a
vanguard. These met the Persian vanguard, routed them, and
destroyed all of them. For in their flight they had come to a cliff and,
being hemmed in, they all perished. The Romans came right up to
the barbarians’ palisade and so struck terror into Baram. When
Romanus heard this, he exhorted his troops and drew them up on the
Albanian plain. \" Baram tried to steal the battle by trickery but
failed in his purpose, for Romanus was endowed with intelligence.
The clash occurred and, with a multitude of barbarians killed, the

385

262

263

AM 605 I Chronographia

Romans had a great victory. The barbarians were stripped and,
deprived of burial, became food for the wild beasts. When the
emperor of the Persians heard about this, he could not bear the dis-
grace and dispatched female clothing to Baram, whom he dismissed
from his command. Baram thereupon revolted and tried to usurp
power. In turn he abused Hormisdas in a letter, which he entitled as
follows, 'Baram addresses these words to Hormisdas, the daughter of
Chosroes'.n'® Then, having gathered the troops, he alleged that
Hormisdas was angry with them for having been defeated by the
Romans. He showed them a forged letter, purportedly from
Hormisdas, on the reduction of soldiers’ pay, n' and reminded them
that Homisdas was harsh and extremely cruel, avaricious, and vio-
lent, how he loved slaughter while rejecting peace, how he subjected
the grandees to chains, beheaded some with the sword and drowned
others in the Tigris, how he forced the Persians to be involved in
huge wars in order to destroy them and prevent them from rising up
against him.Il*? Hurling such words at the troops, IIBaram kindled a
great revolt against Hormisdas. After swearing oaths of loyalty to
Baram they all declared that they would destroy Hormisdas.il*
Hormisdas armed his magister Pherochanes and sent him with a
force against Baram.1I]" But Baram declared to Pherochanes and his
troops that Persians ought not to bear arms against Persians and
reminded them of Hormisdas' harshness and injustice, of his blood-
lust and delight in murder, of his unreliability, arrogance, and vio-
lence. When Pherochanes' troops perceived that these words had
been spoken truly, they went over to Baram and, after killing
Pherochanes, united with Baram and set out for Ctesiphon.il"”®
l[Hormisdas had Bindoes, a man of high rank, placed in chains.
Things being in great commotion, Bestan, who was Bindoes' brother,
burst into the prison and rescued his brother Bindoes, and after
assembling a throng of peasants and city dwellers, they entered the
palace at the third hour of the day. Having found Hormisdas sitting
regally on his throne, they assailed him with much abuse. Bindoes,
having seized Hormisdas, removed the diadem from his head and
had him put in prison.” He then invited Chosroes to lay claim to his
ancestral throne.u®* Hormisdas sent a messenger from the prison
requesting the opportunity of explaining to the Persians what was
profitable for Persia. This was done on the following day when the
Persian senate assembled in the palace with the people, and
Hormisdas was led out as a prisoner. Hormisdas then told the
Persians that emperors ought not to be wronged in this way, and
reminded them of the many triumphs he had gained since becoming
emperor, of the benefits he had conferred on the Persians, and how

386-

Chionogiaphia AM 6076

he had made the Turks tributary to Persia and forced the Romans to
seek peace and how he had captured Martyropolis. He also related to
them the achievements of his ancestors. He deemed it right that
Chosroes should be deprived of the empire since he was litigious,
greedy, delighting in blood, contemptuous, insolent and a warmon-
ger. But he did have another son and he exhorted them to appoint
him as emperor... Bindoes spoke against Hormisdas and, by expos-
ing his errors, aroused everyone against Hormisdas.Ik They brought
forward Hormisdas' wife and son and* before Hormisdas' eyes, cut
them in two. Hormisdas was then blinded and imprisoned.I I" For a
while, Chosroes treated his father kindly in prison, providing him
with every pleasure. But Hormisdas responded to this with abuse
and by trampling on the emperor's offerings. In anger Chosroes
ordered that Hormisdas be beaten on his flanks with rough clubs
until he died.* This grieved the Persians and led them to hate
Chosroes. Chosroes assembled his forces, left the palace to tackle
Baram, and proceeded to the plain of the river Zabas'* where Baram
was entrenched.I |° Supposing that some of his officers were attached
to Baram, Chosroes executed them. When this caused a commotion
among the troops, Chosroes fled with a few supporters, and all of
Chosroes' troops went over to Baram. 1 Chosroes was at a loss what
to do, some advising him to go to the Turks, and others to the
Romans. Mounting his horse, Chosroes gave it free rein and com-
manded everyone to follow the horse's direction. The horse moved
in the direction of Roman territory. When Chosroes reached
Kerkesion,” he dispatched envoys to inform the Romans of his
arrival. The patrician Probus, who chanced to be there, received him
and informed the emperor by letter of what had occurred.I\" Baram,
for his part, dispatched envoys to Maurice requesting him not to
make an alliance with Chosroes.ll” The emperor Maurice ordered
the general Komentiolos to receive Chosroes at Hierapolis’”” and to
treat him with regal honour. I1”

In the same year the emperor Maurice introduced a litany at
Blachernai in memory of the holy Mother of God, at which lauda-
tions of our Lady were to be delivered.” He called it a panegyris.

° Cf. Theoph. Sim. iii. 4. 7-8. > Cf. Theoph. Sim. iii. 5. 2-8. © Tbid. iii.
5. 10. * Tbid. iii. 5. 11. * Ibid. iii. 5. 16-6. 5. * Ibid. iii. 6. 7-14. Cf.
Nik. Kali, xviii. 19. « Theoph. Sim. iii. 6. 16-7. 2. 8 Ibid. iii. 7. 9-13.
1 Ibid. iii. 7. 16-8. 3. ' [bid. iii, 18. 14. k Cf. Ibid. iii, 16. 7-13.
"Ibid. iv. 1.1. ™ Tbid. iv. 2. 2. " Ibid. iv. 2. 8-3. 3. ° Ibid. iv. 3.
5-14. p Ibid. iv. 3. 15-4. 18. ' Tbid. iv. 5. 1-6. 1. 1 Ibid. iv. 6. 2-s-
5 Ibid. iv. 7. 2-9. 4. " Ibid. iv. 9. 8-11. " Ibid. iv. 10. 1-8. "Ibid,
iv. 14. 8. w Ibid. iv. 12. 6-8.

387

265

266

AM 6051 Chronographia

* Theophanes' source is probably a chronicle rather than Theoph. Sim.
This is the only occasion where Theoph. Sim. does provide a general survey
which also includes references to the Slav and Persian wars. But Theoph.
Sim.'s date seems to be the year 588/9.

* i.e. ‘Oblivion’, it was in the region of Bizae (Beth Huzaye or Huzistan)
in south-west Iran.

3 Cf. AM 6079, n. 31, where Theophanes states that Marouzas (his alter-
native spelling) was killed at the battle of Martyropolis. Theophanes' ver-
sion is loosely based on Theoph. Sim., who also repeats his reference to
Martyropolis.

* Sisarbanon in Theoph. Sim., north-east of Nisibis.

> Theoph. Sim. dates this to Maurice's 8th year (ie. AM 6082).

° An area south of the Caucasus mountains.

7 The modern Aras, which flows into the Caspian.

8 For the insult cf. Herodotus iv. 162, and Sophia's supposed letter to
Narses on his recall from Italy 'to his proper station among the maidens of
the palace, where a distaff should be again placed in the hand of the eunuch’.
E. Gibbon, Decline and Pall of the Roman Empire, ch. 45 (ed. Bury), Vv. 10,
citing Paul the Deacon ii. 5; cf. J. B. Bury, #z 15 (1906), 545-6. Cf. AM 6063,
n. 1.

° Theoph. Sim. gives this as part of a general description of Hormizd. It
appears to be Theophanes' own idea to attribute the description to Vahram.
It is a rare example of Theophanes' literary inventiveness.

6 Feb 590. See Higgins, Persian War, 26, Whitby, Simoc. 106 n. 13.

* Khusro had earlier fled t o Azerbaijan and only returned after Hormizd's
death. See Whitby, Simoc. 107 n. 14.

Cf. n. and Whitby, simoc. 112 n. 22. Khusro had nothing to do with
Hormizd's death. This account, together with Hormizd's vitriolic descrip-
tion of Khusro just above presumably reflect Byzantine attitudes following
Khusro's later invasion in the reigns of Phokas and Herakleios.

“4 The great Zab in Iraq.

° In Theoph. Sim. and Evagr. vi. 17, the story is expressed in terms of
Khusro's reliance on divine providence.

7 Modern Membidj in north Syria.

8 Probably this is to be connected to Maurice's introduction of the feast
of the Assumption on 15 Aug., noted only by Nik. Kail. xvii. 28 (292A) but
set in the context of Justinian's reign. Theophanes thus gives some support
to the accuracy of Nik. Kall.'s statement.

am 6081 [ad 588/9]

Year of the divine Incarnation 581
Maurice, emperor of the Romans (20 years), 7th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (39 years), 1st year

388-

Chronographia AM 6048

John, bishop of Constantinople (13 years), 8th year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 17th year
Eulogios, bishop of Alexandria (27 years), 10th year
Gregory, bishop of Antioch (24 years), 19th year

a this year’ lithe emperor Maurice, having adopted Chosroes,
emperor of the Persians, as his son, II" sent to him his kinsman
Dometianus,” bishop of Melitene,ll® with Narses to whom he had
entrusted the command of the war. They invaded Persia with
Chosroes and the entire Roman forces.1_ When Baram learned this,
he collected the forces at his disposal and camped at a place called
Alexandrina,? where he intended to prevent the armies that were
marching from Armenia from uniting with Narses. For Maurice had
ordered John Mystakon, the magister militum per Armeniam, to
take his armies and unite with Narses so that they might jointly
make war on Baram. During the night all the Roman forces were
united and were drawn up against Baram. But Baram, seized with
fear, camped by a hill.I\‘ In the terrible clash of battle, Narses, scorn-
ing the Indian beasts,* broke the central phalanx of the barbarians.
When this had happened, Baram's other phalanxes gave way and the
usurper's forces fled in great numbers. Narses pursued and killed the
Persians without restraint, and brought back to Chosroes 6,000 pris-
oners. Chosroes executed them all by the spear. All the Turks were
sent to the emperor in Byzantium. The Turks had on their foreheads
the symbol of the cross tattooed in black, and when asked by the
emperor how they came to have that sign, they said that many years
earlier there had been a plague in Turkey and some Christians
among them had suggested doing this and from that time their coun-
try had been safe. The Roman army, after capturing Baram's tent and
baggage along with the elephants, brought them to Chosroes. Baram
made his escape to the inner regions of Persia, and in this way the
war against him ended.II®° Chosroes, having won a great victory,
regained his throne and gave a victory banquet for the Romans. But
Narses, as he was about to return home, said to Chosroes,
"Remember the present day, Chosroes. It is the Romans who have
graciously granted you your empire.’ Chosroes, in fear of being assas-
sinated, asked Maurice for a bodyguard of 1,000 Romans. Maurice,
who had a great love for the barbarian, fulfilled his request. 1 f And so
the Romans’ Persian war came to its conclusion. 1«

"Theoph. Sim. v. 3. 11. > Ibid. iv. 14. 5. ¢ Ibid. v. 2. 8-3. 1.
4 Ibid. v. 8. 2-10. 3. "Ibid. v. 10. 10-11. 5. ' Ibid. v. 11. 6-9, 13. 1.
« Ibid. v. 15.2.

389

267

268

AM 6081 Chronographia

"Tn fact 591.

* In fact a nephew of Maurice, son of his brother Peter, he was bishop of
Melitene from c.580 to his death in 602 @M 6094).

3 Probably Arbela, the modern Erbel in Iraq.

* Elephants quite specifically in Theoph. Sim.

> Theoph. Sim. describes it as glorious conclusion. Theophanes, with a
different viewpoint, has substituted for this his reference to Maurice's ‘love
for the barbarian’ which is not in Theoph. Sim.

am 6082 [ad 589/90]

Year of the divine Incarnation 582

Maurice, emperor of the Romans (20 years), 8th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (39 years), 2nd year
John, bishop of Constantinople (13 years), 9th year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (20 years), 18th year
Eulogios, bishop of Alexandria (27 years), nth year
Gregory, bishop of Antioch (24 years), 20th year

In this year on 26 March, indiction 8, on the day of holy Easter,’
Theodosios, the 4'X-year-old son of Maurice, was crowned by John,
patriarch of Constantinople. In the same year the emperor Maurice
completed the church of the Forty Saints,” which Tiberius had
begun. It was on the Mess= on the site where it was said the
Praetorium had previously stood.

u1 While a deep peace prevailed in the East, the Avar War seethed in
Europe. For this reason the emperor Maurice transferred his armies
from the East to Thrace. °°

2 Theoph. Sim. v. 15. 12-16. 1.

* The date of Easter and the indiction are correct for 5 90.

* South of the Mese. Of Janin's list of churches of the Forty Martyrs, this
is no. 3 and no. 6, which are in fact identical. See Mango, Developpement,
3° n. 52.

3 On the problems of the chronology, see AM 6084 notes.

[am 6083, ad sgo/I1]

Maurice, 9 th year
Chosroes, 3rd year
John, 10th year
John, 19 th year

Chronographia AM 6048

Eulogios, 12th year
Gregory, 21st year

Illn this year,’ at the beginning of spring, when the tagmata had
reached Thrace, Maurice went out with them to see the devastation
caused by the barbarians. The Augusta, the patriarch, and the Senate
begged the emperor not to conduct the war in person but to entrust
it to a general.* But he did not accept this. When he had gone out to
the Hebdomon there was an eclipse of the sun.’ There were also roar-
ing gales from a violent south wind. I l* On reaching Rhegion,* he con-
soled the crowds of the poor with silver. When the emperor went
hunting, a huge wild boar charged the Caesar.° His horse, in terror of
the sight, tried to toss the Caesar, but though it remained refractory
for a long time, it was not able to throw him. The boar, unharmed by
anyone, went away.|l” Then, as he was making his journey by sea to
Perinthos,° there were violent winds and rain and the sailors were in
despair while the emperor's ship was driven on until it was saved
unexpectedly at a place called Daonion.’ During the night a woman
gave birth and uttered piteous cries. In the morning the emperor sent
to see what would be the outcome. They saw a new-born child with-
out eyes or eyelids and having neither hands nor arms but, at its hips,
a tail that would have suited a fish. (When the emperor saw this, he
ordered that it be destroyed.)® That day the emperor's horse, which
was adorned with gold trappings, suddenly fell and died. Seeing all
these as omens, the emperor was deeply grieved.II° On the next day
three men, Sklavini by race, who carried no iron weapons but only
lyres, were overpowered by the Romans. The emperor asked them
where they had come from and where they dwelt. They said that they
were Slavs by race and that they lived by the edge of the western
Ocean,’ and that the Chagan had sent an embassy to them with gifts
for their tribal leaders so that they would make an alliance with him
against the Romans. Their taxiarchs had dispatched them to reply to
the Chagan that they were unable to lend him support because of the
length of the journey. For they said that they had been travelling for
eighteen months and had thus come to fall into the hands of the
Romans. They were carrying lyres since they did not know how to
use any weapons, their own country being ignorant of iron. The
emperor, amazed at their youth and bodily stature, commended them
and sent them to HerakleiaJK When the emperor reached
Anchialos’® and learned that envoys had come to Byzantium from
the Persians and the Franks, he returned to his palace.I \*

2 Theoph. Sim. v. 16. 1-5. > Ibid. y. 16. 9-14. © Ibid. vi. 1. 1-2. 2.
4 Ibid. vi. 2. 10-16. e Ibid. vi. 3. 5-8.

391

AM 6063 Chronographia

* Although Theophanes' dating of Maurice's expedition to Anchialos is
accurate, these attendant details belong to AM 6087, as his source, Theoph.
Sim., appears to have confused this expedition with another in the vicinity
of the Long Walls which should be dated to 596 or later, most probably 598.
(Cf. AM 6087 and 6092, n. 12.) The latter expedition was characterized by var-
ious portents. See Whitby, Simoc. 155 n. 86, 162 n. 17, and 200 n. 73.

* Emperors in the 6th cent, did not normally lead campaigns in person,
though Maurice had led an expedition to the Long Walls in 584 just as
Justinian had done in 5 59 (AM 6051). See Whitby, Simoc. 135 n. 87.

3 4 Oct. 590. For Hebdomon see AM 5930, n. 3.

‘ Near Ktijuk gekmece. Cf. AM 6050.

> Theophanes follows Theoph. Sim. in referring to the emperor as the
Caesar rather than the Augustus. (‘Caesar' was normally used of the
emperor's intended successor.)

° i.e. Herakleia. 7 About 16 km. from Herakleia.

8 Restored from Anastasius’ Latin translation, supported by Theoph.
Sim.

° i.e. the Atlantic. It is most unlikely that Slavs had penetrated so far
west. The Avars did make an alliance with the Franks and Lombards in 601
and, if this is not a reflection of that alliance, they may well have made ear-
lier attempts.

[am 6084, ad 591/2]

Maurice, 10th year
Chosroes, 4th year
John, nth year
John, 2oth year
Eulogios, 13th year
Gregory, 22nd year

Illn this year’ the Chagan sought to receive additional payments to
those agreed,* but the emperor refused to accede to the barbarian's
demands. For this reason the Chagan began war again, besieged
Singidunum? and marched against Scrmium.li"* The emperor
appointed Priscus as magister militum for Europe.’ Priscus, after
making Salvianus his second-in-command, ordered him to take the
advance party. After they had advanced against the barbarians, bat-
tle was joined and the Romans were victorious. When the Chagan
heard this, he collected his forces and set out for war. Salvianus, hav-
ing seen their numbers, was struck with terror and returned to
Priscus. On being informed of the Roman retreat, the Chagan
advanced to Anchialos, that is to St Alexander's, and delivered it to
all-devouring fire. Then, having crossed over to Drizipera,° he tried

392

Chronographia AM 6048

to sack the town by making use of siege-engines. The inhabitants of
Drizipera held their ground against them with feigned boldness. For,
after opening the gates, they threatened to do battle with the bar-
barians, although, in fact, they were terribly scared. But it was then
indeed that some divine force came to their assistance. For in the
middle of the day the barbarians imagined they saw a Roman army
marching out of the city, ready to engage them, and, being struck
with terror, they ran away in urgent flight and went to Perinthos.’
Priscus, unable even to behold the masses of the barbarians, went
into the fort of Tzouroulon® and made himself secure. The barbar-
ians attempted to besiege Priscus. I? When Maurice heard this, he
was at a loss what to do, but by sound judgement he outwitted an
immense army. He persuaded one of the excubitors by large gifts and
promises to fall willingly into the hands of the barbarians. He gave
to this man a letter addressed to Priscus of which the contents were
as follows: 'To the most glorious general Priscus: Do not fear the
nefarious attempt by the barbarians, which will bring about their
destruction. For you are to know that the Chagan will have to return
in great disgrace to the territory assigned to him by the Romans.’ For
this reason your Glory will persist in making them wander about
Tzouroulon. We are sending ships by sea and we are carrying off
their families as captives, and he will be compelled to return to his
territory disgraced and punished.’ The Chagan, having caught and
read the letter, was terrified, and entered on an agreement with
Priscus, making peace for a few trifling gifts,’° and then fled hastily
back to his own land. II

" Theoph. Sim. vi. 3. 9-4. 4. > Ibid. vi. 4. 7-5. 10. © Ibid. vi. 5. 11-16.

* The date is uncertain. Whitby, Simoc. 162 n. 17, following J. Marquardt,
suggests 588, based on the similarity of Mich. Syr.'s account at ii. 361-3,
which will have followed John of Ephesos' contemporary account.

* i.e. the agreement of 583 by which the Romans made an annual pay-
ment of 100,000 solidi. Cf. AM 607 sf.

3 The Romans must have regained Singidunum (Belgrade) after its cap-
ture by the Avars in 583.

* Near modern Sremska Mitrovica in the former Yugoslavia.

> Presumably soon after his return from the east after the mutiny of Apr.
588 (see AM 6079).

° Near the modern Btiyiik Kanjtiran in European Turkey. Cf. AM 6051,
n. 17.

7 Herakleia, i.e. the Avars, so far from fleeing in fear, had in fact advanced
some 53 km., probably aiming to confront Priscus' army and block any
retreat to the Long Walls. See Whitby, Simoc. 165 nn. 27-9.

® The modem gorlu in European Turkey, between Herakleia and

393

270

271

AM 6051 Chronographia

Drizipera. But he had first moved further west (away from Constantinople)
to the fort of Didymoteichon.

° i.e. Pannonia.

" Mich. Syr. ii. 363 states that the payment was 800 lbs. of gold (just
under 60,000 solidi) and that the Avars feared an attack by the Turks.

[am 608s, ad 592/3]

Maurice, nth year

Chosroes, 5 th year

John, 12th year

Amos, bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), 1st year
Eulogios, 14th year

Gregory, 23rd year

Illn this year’ the emperor Maurice sent Priscus with all the Roman
armies to the river Danube to prevent the tribes of the Sklavini from
crossing.I\* The Chagan learned that he had reached Dorostolos* and
sent envoys to him, accusing the Romans of starting a war. I |* Priscus
countered this as follows: 'I have not come here to make war on the
Avars, but was sent by the emperor against the Sklavini.' Having
heard that Ardagastos? had scattered hordes of Sklavini to plunder,
Priscus crossed the Danube in the middle of the night and made an
unexpected attack on Ardagastos. The latter, perceiving the danger,
mounted a horse bareback and just escaped to safety. The Romans,
after destroying hordes of Sklavini, laying waste the territory sur-
rounding Ardagastos and taking captives, sent many of them back to
Byzantium! with Tatimer. Tatimer became careless as he made his
journey in a relaxed fashion, indulging in drunkenness and pleasure,
and, on the third day, hordes of Sklavini attacked him. Overcome by
cowardice, Tatimer went fleeing to Byzantium. But the Romans
who were with him fought the Sklavini valiantly and, after unex-
pectedly defeating the barbarians, brought the captives safely to the
emperor at Byzantium. The emperor was pleased and offered hymns
of thanksgiving to God together with all the people of the city.I*

ut Priscus was emboldened to march into the interior territory of
the Sklavini.u® A Gepid who belonged to the Christian religion
deserted to the Romans and revealed to them the entrance [into their
country]; and so they defeated the barbarians. He said that
Mousoukios, the king of the barbarians, was at a distance of thirty
miles.IK* Thanks to the Gepid's betrayal, Priscus crossed the river
in the middle of the night and found Mousoukios overcome by
strong drink; for he was celebrating the wake of his own brother.
After taking him alive, Priscus wrought great slaughter among the

394-

Chronographia AM 6048

barbarians. Having taken many prisoners, they gave themselves over
to drink and pleasure. The barbarians, gathering together, attacked
their conquerors, and their revenge would have been even harsher
than the act of valour that had preceded it, if Genzon had not arrived
with the Roman infantry and checked the barbarian charge in a
tough battle. Priscus impaled those who had been entrusted with
guarding him. lis

In the same year Paul, the emperor's father, died in Constan-
tinople and was buried among the imperial tombs. Likewise the
Augusta Anastasia, the mother-in-law of Maurice and wife of the
emperor Tiberius, [died and] was buried with her husband Tiberius.

" Theoph. Sim. vi. 6. 2. > Ibid. vi. 6. 5-12. ¢ Ibid. vi. 6. 13-7. 5.
4 Ibid. vi. 8. 3-8. e Ibid. vi. 8. 9-10. / Ibid. vi. 8. 13-9. 1. « Ibid. vi.
9 3-18-

" The date for Priscus' second campaign is correct. It can be calculated 'by
counting back the campaign years in Theoph. Sim.'s narrative from the final
campaign of Maurice's reign in 602' (Whitby, Simoc. 167 n. 35).

* The modern Silistra on the south bank of the Danube in Bulgaria. This
confirms that Priscus' objective was the Slavs and not the Avars, whose
lands were on the upper Danube.

3 The Slav leader. Cf. AM 6076 forhis defeat in 585.

* 30 miles: 30 parasangs in Theoph. Sim. Technically the parasang was a
measure of time rather than distance, but traditionally Greeks had regarded
it as 30 stades, i.e. about 5-6 km., 3-4 miles. Theophanes has understand-
ably found this measurement too obscure.

am 6086 [ad 593/4]

Year of the divine Incarnation 586

Maurice, emperor of the Romans (20 years), 12th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (39 years), 6th year
John, bishop of Constantinople (13 years), 13th year
Amos, bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), 2nd year
Eulogios, bishop of Alexandria (27 years), 15th year
Gregory, bishop of Antioch (24 years), 24th year

In this year Priscus again advanced to the Danube and plundered the
tribes of the Sklavini and sent back many captives to the emperor’
Ilwho dispatched Tatimer to Priscus and ordered the Romans to
spend the winter season there.” On being informed of this, the
Romans objected, saying that it was not possible to do so because of
the numbers of the barbarians, the hostile country, and the unbear-
able cold. But Priscus persuaded them with convincing arguments to

395

272

“73,

AM 6051 Chronographia

winter there and carry out the emperor's command. 1? The emperor
Maurice, having heard this, appointed Philippikos,* who was his
brother-in-law and magistei militum pei Oiientem, as comes excu-
bitoium, having confidence in him because he was married to his
sister. Philippikos began to build at Chrysopolis’ the monastery of
our all-holy Lady, the Mother of God, and a palace there for the
reception of the emperor Maurice and his children. He made within
it fish-ponds and parks for his pleasure. In Constantinople he built
the house known as that of Philippikos.°

"Theoph. Sim. vi. 10. 1-3.

* De Boor gives Theoph. Sim. vi. 10 as the source for the opening sentence
but it appears rather to be a doublet for AM 6085. Theoph. Sim.'s narrative
moves directly from Priscus' execution of the guards (AM 608 5g) to the send-
ing out of Tatimer.

* Maur. stia. xi. 4. 82 similarly supports the exploitation of winter cam-
paigning, when there was less protection for ambushes, frozen rivers could
be crossed, and snow made tracking easier. See Whitby, simoc 173 n. 54.

3 Theoph. Sim. states that Priscus nevertheless broke camp.

* Joh. Eph. we iii. 5. 18 says this was the first post held by Philippikos
under Maurice, prior to his being sent as magistei milium against the
Persians (cf. AM 6076). Theophanes has either placed this in the wrong year
or Philippikos was reappointed both as magistei mitimm and as count of the
excubitors. See pire ili. 1022.

> Modern Usktidar on the Asiatic coast of the Bosporus. On the little that
is known of this monastery, see R. Janin, Glands centies, 24-5.

® Also mentioned without indication of locality by Kedr. i. 698.

[am 6087, ad 594/5]

Maurice, 13thyear

Chosroes, 7th year

Kyriakos, bishop of Constantinople (11 years), 1st year
Amos, 3rd year

Eulogios, 16th year

Anastasios, bishop of Antioch (again) (6 years), 1st year

Illn this year two monsters were born in the suburbs of Byzantium,
namely a four-footed child and another with two heads.’ Careful his-
torians affirm that good is not portended for cities in which such
beings are born. The emperor relieved Priscus of his command and
made his own brother Peter general of the Roman army.” Before
Peter's arrival Priscus collected his army and crossed the river. When
the Chagan heard about the crossing by the Roman army, he was

396-

Chronographia AM 620

greatly amazed and sent emissaries to Priscus seeking both to learn
the reason and to obtain a share of the booty’ and so also get across
the river:* for he was much annoyed by the Roman successes.I\* To
treat these matters Priscus sent as his ambassador to the Chagan
Theodore the physician,> who was both intelligent and shrewd.
When Theodore saw that the Chagan was being presumptuous and
giving replies that were rather boastful (for he was threatening that
he would become master of all of the tribes), he softened this bar-
barian arrogance with an old tale.° For he said, 'Listen, O Chagan, to
this helpful tale. Sesostris, the emperor of the Egyptians, who was
famous and exceedingly fortunate, brilliantly wealthy and invinci-
ble in power, had subjected many mighty nations. So, having
become boastful, he made a carriage inlaid with gold and precious
stones and sat in it, forcing four of the conquered emperors under the
yoke to pull the carriage. When this was happening at an important
festival, one of the four emperors often turned back his gaze and
stared at the wheel turning round. When Sesostris asked him why he
caused his eyes to gaze backwards, the man said: "I am amazed at
the wheel which is never at rest but always moving its various parts,
at one moment putting down the mighty and at another raising up
the lowly." Sesostris, after reflecting wisely on the parable, ordained
that the emperors were no longer to pull the carriage.’ When the
Chagan heard this, he smiled and said that he would keep the peace
and that it was up to Priscus as to whether he wished to honour the
Chagan with any of the spoils. Priscus gave the captives’ to the
Chagan on account of the crossing and, taking all the spoils, went
over the river without danger. The Chagan was greatly pleased to
receive what he did. Priscus went to Byzantium and Peter took over
the command. n°

" Theoph. Sim. vi. 11. 1-5. Cf. Nik. Kail, xviii. 28. >’ Theoph. Sim. vi. 11.
7-vii. 1. 1.

The prodigies resemble those of AM 6083, which perhaps belong to this
account, though both perhaps are part of the same expedition described at
AM 6092 (where see n. 12).

* For Peter see pire iii. 1009-ri, Petrus 55.

3 Theoph. Sim. has no reference to the Chagan wanting booty.

* Cf. Nik. Kail, xviii. 29 'and thus hinder Priscus from swimming across
the river’.

> Theodore's eminence is clear from the fact that he was the recipient of
letters from Pope Gregory. See prez iii. 1259, Theodoras 55. On the delib-
erate use of doctors on embassies to Persia, see R. C. Blockley, Fioritegium,
2 (1980), 85-100.

397

274

am 605 i Chronographia

° The tale had been previously used by Peter the Patrician during negoti-
ations with the Persians in 561 (Men. Prot., frg. 6. 1.213-36). Herodotus ii.
102-11 and Diodorus Siculus i. 5 3-8 describe Sesostris' conquests, Diodorus
mentioning simply that four conquered kings pulled his chariot.

7 As Whitby, Simoc. 176 n. 65 and 178 n. 69, points out, the account is
unclear, since the Romans had crossed the river before the Chagan, pleased
at the gift of captives, decided to relent and let the Romans cross.
Theophanes is, however, simply repeating Theoph. Sim.'s muddle.

[AM 6088, AD 595/6]

Maurice, 14th year
Chosroes, 8th year
Kyriakos, 2nd year
Amos, 4th year
Eulogios, 17th year
Anastasios, 2nd year

IlIn this year’ the emperor ordered Peter the general to give the
Romans one third of their pay in gold, one third in arms, and the
remaining third in all kinds of clothing.* So when the Romans heard
this, they turned to revolt. In fear, the general replied to the soldiers
that this was not true, and he showed the army another letter
instructing him that those who had served with valour and survived
the dangers were to be given rest in the cities and fed in their old age
at public expense, and that the children of soldiers were to be
enrolled in the place of their parents.* With these persuasive argu-
ments he placated the troops, and they acclaimed the Caesar. u°
Peter informed the emperor of these things. Having come to
Markianoupolis* he sent ahead a force of 1,000 to be the vanguard.
They came upon Sklavini, who were taking a large amount of plun-
der from the Romans, and routed them. But the barbarians, after
slaughtering their captives*? and capturing many prisoners,
returned to Roman territory.I\"

In the same year the emperor built the circular terrace of the
Magnaura.° He set up a statue of himself in the central court and
placed the arsenal there.

"Theoph. Sim. vii. 1. 2-9. > Ibid. vii. 2. 1-10.

" In fact 594.

* Cf. AM 6079k for Maurice's earlier attempt to pay in kind. For discus-
sion, see Jones, LRE 670-4, and M. J. Higgins, AnBoll 67 (1949), 444-6.

3 Theophanes omits the vital point that this refers to the orphans of sol-
diers, who probablywere given their father's rank. See Jones, LRE 675.

398-

Chronographia AM @

* The modern Devnja in Bulgaria.

> A corrector of MS'm' fills the lacuna with ‘fled and the Romans’ which
is close to Kedr., 6989. This would get some support from Theoph. Sim.,
although there is nothing about the Slavs fleeing, or, for that matter, about
the Romans taking prisoners and returning to Roman territory.

° The circular terrace was on the western side of the Magnaura, a build-
ing where the emperor usually received foreign ambassadors. See Guilland,
Etudes, 141-50, Janin, CP, 117-18.

[AM 6089, AD 596/7]

Maurice, 15 th year
Chosroes, 9 th year
Kyriakos, 3rd year
Amos, 5 th year
Eulogios, 18 th year
Anastasios, 3rd year

Illn this year the general Peter, while hunting,’ encountered a wild
boar which crushed his foot against a tree. He was ill for a long time
with intolerable pain. The emperor assailed him with bitter letters
and intolerable insults on hearing that Slav tribes were moving
against Byzantium. So Peter went in haste to Novae. II*

I IThe leading soldiers of the city together with the bishop went to
meet the general.* When the general saw them, he admired their
equipment and manliness and ordered them to leave the city and
join the Roman army. But the soldiers, who had been appointed to
the city's garrison, refused to comply.* In fury, the general dis-
patched Genzon with a force of soldiers. When they learned this, the
others fled to the church, closed its doors, and remained inside.
Genzon, out of reverence for the church, waited without taking any
action. Peter angrily dismissed Genzon from his command and sent
a skribon? to bring the bishop to him in dishonour. But those from
the city assembled with their entire households and drove the skri-
bon ignominiously from the city. They then closed the city gates,
acclaimed the emperor Maurice, and hurled insults at the general.
Thus Peter retreated from there in disgrace. u°

llHe sent forward a thousand to reconnoitre. They encountered a
thousand Bulgars. The latter, made confident by the Chagan's
peace,° were advancing without any precautions. The Romans
charged the Bulgars. The Bulgars sent out seven men to request that
the peace be not broken. When the advance party heard this, they
reported it to the general, who replied, 'Not even if the emperor
came here, would I spare them.’ A battle took place and the Romans

399

275

AM 6089 Chronographia

were routed. The barbarians did not pursue them lest, after their vic-
tory, they should fall into danger. The general scourged the com-
mander of the vanguard severely. When the Chagan learned this, he
sent envoys to Peter accusing him of causing [the incident) and say-
ing that the Romans had broken the peace for no just reason. Peter,
with deceitful words, claimed that he knew nothing of the attack
and that he would restore all the plunder twofold. So the barbarians,
having regained double their lost plunder, kept the peace.I I‘

u Peter then marched against Peragastes, the leader of the Sklavini,
but the barbarians met the Romans at the bank of the river and pre-
vented them from crossing. But the Romans, shooting from their
boats, turned them back. In the rout Peragastes was struck in the
groin and died. After crossing, the Romans gained much plunder and
returned to their own territory. I\‘ But the guides went astray and fell
into a waterless region and so put the army in danger. So they
marched through the night and reached the riverHelibakias.” On the
other side of the river there was a thicket in which the barbarians hid
and shot at those who were drawing water. And so the Roman army,
suffering heavy casualties and thoroughly beaten by the barbarians,
turned and fled. When Maurice heard the news, he dismissed Peter
from his command® and sent out Priscus again as general of
Thrace. II

> Theoph. Sim. vii. 1. 11-16. > Ibid. vii. 3. 1-10. © Ibid. vii. 4. 1-7.
4 Ibid. vii. 4. 13-5. 5. "Ibid. vii. 5. 6-10.

In Theoph. Sim. this takes places on the day following the encounter
with the Slavs related at AM 6088.

* The modern Svistov, on the south bank o fthe Danube in Bulgaria. Peter
arrived there on 22 Aug. Theophanes omits much of Peter's movements
which in fact show that Peter had been energetically striving to stop the
Slavs from crossing the Danube. See Whitby, Simoc. 182 n. 10. Theophanes
has, however, captured the tone of Theoph. Sim.'s narrative, which is based
on a source hostile to Peter.

3 By misreading Theoph. Sim.'s 'Asemus' as episemoi (‘leading’), Theo-
phanes here conflates Peter's arrival at Novae with his arrival at Asemus,
about 40 km. west of Novae.

4 Asemus possessed a decree of Justinjwhetherlustinl or II is not known)
granting it a garrison to protect it from barbarian incursions.

> A select officer of the imperial guard, often used on special missions.
See Jones, LRE 658-9.

° The Bulgars were under the dominion of the Avars and so were protected
by the Avar-Roman treaty. Peter has apparently moved north of the Danube.

7 Probably to the north of the Danube, opposite Dorostolon.

* Winter 594-5?

400

Chronographia AM 620

AM 6090 [AD 597/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 590

Maurice, emperor of the Romans (20 years), 16th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (39 years), 10th year
Kyriakos, bishop of Constantinople (11 years), 4th year
Amos, bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), 6th year

Eulogios, bishop of Alexandria (27 years), 19th year
Anastasios, bishop of Antioch (6 years), 4th year

llIn this year’ the general Priscus, after setting out for Thrace, helda
review of his forces and found that a great many of them had been
lost. Collecting those he had, he went to Novae on the river Ister.
When the Chagan learned this, he sent envoys to inquire about the
reason of his arrival. Priscus claimed that he had come to hunt. ‘But
it is not right’, said the Chagan, ‘to go hunting in foreign territory.’
But Priscus claimed that it was his territory and reproached the
Chagan for leaving the East.u° The barbarian then destroyed the
walls of Singidunum and marched into Roman territory. When
Priscus learned this, he went to the island’ of the Ister, and taking
some dromones, reached the Chagan at Constantiola,? wishing to
parley with him. When the Chagan had come to the bank of the
river, Priscus spoke to him from his ship. The Chagan said to him,
"What is your concern, Priscus, with my land? Do you wish to take
it deceitfully from my hands? God will judge between me and the
emperor Maurice. He shall seek out from his hands the blood of the
Roman army and of my army.'* Priscus then said, ('Give back the
city of Singidunum to the Romans.')> The Chagan replied, 'You are
trying to take a single city from us. Soon you will see fifty Roman
cities made subject to the Avars.'ll’ Priscus, after bringing up the
ships along the river to Singidunum, captured it, drove the Bulgars
out of it, and began to build the walls. The Chagan sent messengers
to him and called to witness his false gods, charging Priscus with
what was happening.I 1° When winter came,° both sides returned to

their own territories.

In the same year Peter, the brother of Maurice, built the church of
the holy Mother of God in the Areobindos quarter,’ adorning it with
various marbles. Similarly the patriarch Kyriakos built the church of
the holy Mother of God in the quarter of Diakonissa.®

" Theoph. Sim. vii. 7. 1-5. > Ibid. vii. 10. 1-11. 6. © Ibid. vii. 11. 7-9.

* In spring 595.
Singan, 48 km. from Singidunum.

401

277

AM 6090 Chronographia

3 On the north bank of the Danube, opposite the confluence of the

Morava and the Danube.
4 Cf. 2 Sam. 4: 11. > Restored from Anastasius'Latin translation.

° In Theoph. Sim. the campaign recorded by Theophanes at AM 6091 fol-
lows immediately, on the tenth day of the Singidunum campaign.

7 The Patria, ii. 237-8, says Peter transformed the house of Areobindos
(consul of 506) into a church and added a public bath. Its location is uncer-

tain.
8 Or the 'deaconess’. The church was associated with the Blues and con-

nected with anumber of ceremonies. See Janin, Eglises, 174-5.

[AM 6091, AD 598/9]

Maurice, 17thyear
Chosroes, nth year
Kyriakos, 5th year
Amos, 7thyear
Eulogios, 20th year
Anastasios, 5 th year

[ln this year, the Chagan, having marshalled his forces,’ marched to
Dalmatia and having taken Balkes® and the forty cities round it,
destroyed them all. When Priscus learned of these events, he sent
Goudoues? to spy on what was happening. After reaching the bar-
barians by travelling across difficult terrain,!\* he came upon two
barbarians stupefied by wine. Goudoues questioned them about the
movements of the barbarians. They said that the Chagan had handed
over the captives to 2,000 hoplites to take home. Having learned
this, Goudoues hid in a small gully and at dawn suddenly came up
behind them and destroyed them all. Having got the captives he took
them to Priscus. The Chagan, having learned of this disaster,
returned to his own territory* and Priscus went back to his.1l"

"Theoph. Sim. vii. 12. 1-3. > Ibid. vii. 12. 6-9.

" Cf. AM 6099, n. 6.

* Called 'Bonkeis' in Theoph. Sim., which cannot be identified and may
be corrupt. De Boor suggested 'Balbai' from Prok. Aed. iv. 4. (B. 282. 14).

3 Goudoues (PLRE iii. 561-2, Guduin 1], conceals 'Godwin'.

* Theoph. Sim. states that this was the last action for 18 months, i.e. from
autumn 595 to summer 597, during which time the Avars showed more
interest in the west, attacking the Bavarians and the Franks. Theophanes'
dating of this to Maurice's 17th year was probably deduced from Theoph.
Sim.'s following sentence (vii.12. 10], which refers to Maurice's 19th
year.

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Chronographia AM &0

AM 6092 [AD 599/600]

Year of the divine Incarnation 592.

Maurice, emperor of the Romans (20 years), 18th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (39 years), 12th year
Kyriakos, bishop of Constantinople (11 years), 6th year
Amos, bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), 8th year

Eulogios, bishop of Alexandria (27 years), 21st year
Anastasios, bishop of Antioch (6 years), 6th year

In this year, in the month of March of the 3rd indiction, Priscus, tak-
ing his forces, moved to Singidunum.’ 1 iThe Chagan,” having gath-
ered together his own force, suddenly invaded Mysia and tried to
capture the city of Tomis.’ For this reason Priscus left Singidunum
and moved close to him. When the festival of Easter* arrived and the
Romans were wasting away with hunger, the Chagan, having heard
about this, told Priscus to send waggons to him so that he might
send the Romans provisions for them to celebrate their own festival
with joy. And so he filled and sent them 400 waggons. Similarly
Priscus sent in return various Indian goods to the barbarians, namely
pepper, Indian cloves, costus spice,® cinnamon, and other rare goods,
while the Chagan was based at Sermium. He was delighted with the
goods he received. Until the completion of the festival the Romans
and the barbarians camped side by side without any fear in either
army. When the celebration was over the barbarians separated from
the Romans. |\*

Maurice, supposedly to help Priscus, sent out Komentiolos with
an infantry force.° IIHaving learned this, the Chagan marched into
Mysia against Komentiolos to about thirty miles? from him.
Komentiolos secretly sent a messenger to the Chagan.I\” Some say
that Maurice instructed Komentiolos to betray the Roman army* to
the enemy because of their indiscipline. I‘ In the middle of the night,
he ordered the army to arm, but did not disclose to the troops that
they were about to engage in battle. They, supposing that he had
ordered them to carry arms for the sake of an exercise, did not arm
themselves properly. When day came and the barbarians arrived,
there was a great uproar in the army. u* Komentiolos disturbed the
ranks and was himself the cause of their disorder. Thereupon the
Romans turned and fled while the barbarians, finding the troops out
of control, slaughtered them without mercy. I? Komentiolos reached
Drizipera in a disgraceful flight, but the citizens hurled insults and
stones at him and drove him from the city. The barbarians, having
come to Drizipera,’ destroyed the city and burned the church of St
Alexander.’® Having found that his tomb was plated with silver,

403

279

280

AM6iiO Chronographia

they stripped it in unholy fashion and subjected the martyr's body to
mockery. And having taken many captives in Thrace, they ban-
queted sumptuously and behaved arrogantly towards the Romans. us

nu When Komentiolos reached Byzantium,” utter confusion and
uproar descended on the city, so much so that the inhabitants out of
fear wanted to abandon Europe and move across to Chalcedon in
Asia. The emperor, taking the excubitors and having assembled an
armed band, kept guard at the Long Walls.’* The people? were
guarding the city. The Senate advised the emperor to send a legation
to the Chagan.1Ik God, to avenge the martyr Alexander, sent a pesti-
lential plague on the barbarians and on a single day it killed from
fever and swellings seven of the Chagan's sons along with many
swarms of others, so that instead of the joy of victory and triumphal
songs and hymns, the barbarian turned to dirges, tears, and incon-
solable sorrow. I\" The Senate exhorted the Caesar to send a legation
to the Chagan.’* (The emperor sent Harmatzon with many gifts to
the Chagan)” at Drizipera, who soothed the barbarian with gentle
words. But the barbarian was unwilling to accept the gifts as he was
filled with uncontrollable grief for his sons.’® He said to the envoy,
'God will judge between me and the emperor Maurice. For it was he
who broke the peace.|l"” I shall give him back the prisoners if | am
paid by him one nomisma per head.’ But Maurice would not agree to
pay. The Chagan asked again for half a nomisma per head. But the
emperor refused to pay even this, or even four keratia.’’ So the
Chagan, in fury, killed them all and returned home,” adding 50,000
gold piecesl 1'*° to the tribute paid by the Romans. And they agreed
not to cross the river Ister.I As a result of this much hatred was
stirred up against the emperor Maurice and they began to hurl abuse
at him. So also the army in Thrace was stirred to abuse the emperor.
The army sent representatives to the emperor to accuse Komen-
tiolos of treachery during the war. Among them was Phokas”™ who,
in addressing the emperor at the silentium,” spoke against him so
forcefully that one of the patricians boxed his ears and pulled his
beard. The emperor rejected the (army's) accusation against
Komentiolos, and dismissed them empty-handed. For this reason
the plot against the emperor was started.1

nu About this time in the river Nile in Egypt, while the prefect
Menas” was journeying with a host of people in the region known
as the Delta, as the sun was rising, creatures of human form
appeared in the river, a man and a woman.™* The man was broad-
chested and striking in appearance, with fair grizzled hair, and he
was naked to his loins and revealed his nakedness to all. The water
covered the remaining parts of his body. The prefect entreated him

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Chronographia AM 20

by oaths not to dispel the vision before everybody had had their fill
of this incredible sight. The woman had a smooth face and breasts
and long hair. All the people gazed in amazement at these creatures
until the ninth hour, when they sank into the river. I I” Menas wrote
to the emperor Maurice about this.II"

" Theoph. Sim. vii. 13. 1-7. > Ibid. vii. 13. 8-9. ° Joh. Ant., frg. 218b.
Cf. Megas Chron. frg. 13 (Schreiner, 43), tr. Whitby and Whitby, Chron. Pasch. 200.
¢ Theoph. Sim. vii. 13. 9-13; cf. Megas Chron. " Theoph. Sim. vii. 14. 1-9; cf.
Megas Chron. > Theoph. Sim. vii. 14. 10-12. « Ibid. vii. 15. 4-8.
» Tbid. vii. 15. 1-3. 1 Ibid. vii. 15. 8-12. "Cf. Megas Chron.
k Theoph. Sim. vii. 15. 14; cf. Megas Chron. ' Joh. Ant., frg. 218b.

Theoph. Sim. vii. 16. 1-9. "Theoph. Sim. vii. 17. 46.

" The precise indiction date shows this sentence has come from
Theophanes' chronicle source. Theophanes had left Priscus at Singidunum
at the end of AM 6090.

* In Theoph. Sim. this follows from summer 597 (see AM 6091, n. 4).

3 The modern Constanta on the Black Sea coast of Romania. Mysia is
Moesia. * 30 Mar. 598.

> Costus, sometimes translated as Saussurea, was an aromatic plant
used in the preparation of unguents and for preserving fruit. Theoph. Sim.
apologizes for the term but it is an acceptable word to Theophanes.

° Theophanes'’ source is unknown but since the two other passages for
this year which are not drawn from Theoph. Sim. are taken directly or indi-
rectly from Joh. Ant., the source of this sentence is also likely to be Joh. Ant.
Theoph. Sim. introduces Komentiolos into the narrative here without
explanation, so Theophanes' statement is useful.

7 20 parasangs in Theoph. Sim., i.e. about rr8 km. Cf. AM 6085, where
Theophanes makes a parasang equal to a mile.

® Theophanes has interpolated this sentence between two consecutive
pieces of Theoph. Sim.'s narrative. A similar account occurs in the so-called
Great Chronographer, which Whitby argues is Theophanes' source here but
which we believe was derived from Theophanes. See Introduction, p. xc.

° Drizipera: near the modern Biiyiik Kari‘tiran in European Turkey. See
AM 6051, N. R7.

© The Avars had already burned the shrine in 588 (see AM 6084 and notes
on date there) whileHuns and Slavs had held the area in 559 (see AM 6051).

"For some reason Theophanes has reversed the order of Theoph. Sim.'s
narrative, postponing to 'h' God's punishment of the Avars for their treat-
ment of St Alexander. Perhaps Theophanes intended to heighten the
Chagan's recognition of the moral described at AM 6089c.

* Whitby, Simoc. 200 n. 73 plausibly suggests that this expedition is
identical with, and provides the correct date for, the expedition to defend the
Long Walls described by Theophanes at AM 6083, in that both“the location
and the portents of Maurice's overthrow would be more appropriate here.
Cf. AM 6087, n. r.

405

281

AM 6092 Chionogiaphia

% Tt is unclear whether demoi here refers to the general populace or the
circus factions. Since they are separated from the armed throng, demoi prob-
ably refers to the factions, but this also implies that the factions were left to
guard the city walls because they lacked the arms and military competence
for duty at the Long Walls.

“ Theophanes, having reversed Theoph. Sim.'s order for 'g'+‘'h' (cf.
n. 11), now has to repeat the last sentence of 'g', but alters the wording
slightly.

* Restored from Anastasius’ Latin translation.

7 Cf. AM 6ogoc for a similar appeal by the Chagan. Theophanes here
omits Theoph. Sim.'s following support for the Chagan's accusation.

'8 There were 1728 keiatia (carats) to a Roman pound and thus 24 to a
solidus or nomisma, the gold coin of which 72 were struck to the pound.

°° These few lines (I shall give . . . returned home) are likely to be derived
from loh. Ant. Cf. n. 6 above. Theoph. Sim., apart from lacking any sugges-
tion of the ransoming and killing of prisoners, stresses that the Avar War
was now at an end. This section (j) provides the best argument for Whitby's
claim that Theophanes used the Great Chronographer (Megas Chron.). See
Whitby, BMGS 8 (1982-3), 1-20, The Emperor Maurice and his historian
(Oxford, 1988), 121—3; Whitby and Whitby, Chron. Pasch. 200 n. 15.

*° 20,000 in Theoph. Sim. making a total annual payment of 120,000
solidi. (Cf. AM 6075g in fact of AD 584.)

* i.e. the future emperor.

* Silentium: the emperor's advisory council.

*3 Nothing more is known of Menas. He was presumably governor
(Augustal prefect) of Egypt. For the varied terminology of his title see PLRE
ili. 877, Menas 10.

*4 Theophanes has abbreviated Theoph. Sim.'s account considerably.
Geo. Mon. 657-8 and Joh. Nik. 97, also record the appearance of these fig-
ures.

AM 6093 [AD 600/L]

Year of the divine Incarnation 593

Maurice, emperor of the Romans (20 years), 19th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (39 years), 13th year
Kyriakos, bishop of Constantinople (11 years), 7th year
Isaac, bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), ist year

Eulogios, bishop of Alexandria (27 years), 22nd year
Anastasios, bishop of Antioch (9 years), 1st year

In this year on 26 March, of the 4th indiction, on holy Easter day,’
the Augusta Sophia the wife of Justin, together with Constantina,
the wife of Maurice, made a precious crown which they offered to
the emperor. After gazing at it, the emperor went to the church,

406

Chronographia AM @20

offered it to God, and hung it above the holy table by a triple chain
of gold and precious stones. The Augustas were greatly grieved when
they learned this and the Augusta Constantina celebrated Easter in
conflict with the emperor.”

IIThe emperor disregarded the accusations againt Komentiolos
made by the armies in Thrace and it was Komentiolos himself who,
taking the army, went to the Ister and joined forces with Priscus at
Singidunum. The peace with the Avars was dissolved, and now that
it was broken, they went to Viminakion, which is a large island in
the Ister. When the Chagan heard of this, he assembled his own
forces and advanced towards Roman territory. He delivered other
forces to his four sons and stationed them to guard the crossings of
the Ister. The Romans built rafts, crossed the river, and joined battle
with the sons of the Chagan, with Priscus in command. For
Komentiolos was ill and stayed on the island of Viminakion.I\* The
battle lasted many hours and when the sun set 300 Romans had been
killed as against 4,000 barbarians. Having drawn up the armies again
at dawn, they again began fighting and destroyed 8,000 of the bar-
barians. Likewise on the third day the Romans, drawn up on higher
ground, moved against the barbarians and, after routing them and
driving the Avars into the waters of the marsh, drowned many of
them. Amongst these the Chagan's sons were drowned. The Romans
won a conspicuous victory.I\°

IIlThe Chagan, having gathered numerous forces, advanced against
the Romans. After they had joined battle, the Romans routed the
barbarians and gained a victory more remarkable than all others.
Priscus, having drawn up a force of 4,000, ordered them to cross the
river Tissos* and to spy out the movements of the barbarians. The
barbarians,* knowing nothing of what had happened, were carousing
together in celebrating a festival. The Romans, falling upon them by
stealth, carried out a great massacre, for they killed 30,000 Gepids
and other barbarians. After taking many captives they returned to
Priscus. Il‘ The Chagan having again gathered his forces, went to the
Ister. And having clashed in battle, the barbarians were defeated and
drowned in the currents of the river. Many Sklavini perished with
them. The Romans captured alive 3,000 Avars, (800 Sklavini, and
3),200 (Gepids),> and 2,000 [other] barbarians. The Chagan sent
envoys to the emperor Maurice to try to get back the prisoners. But
Maurice, who had not yet learned of the Romans’ conspicuous vic-
tory, wrote to Priscus to give back to the Chagan only® the Avars.I\
Komentiolos, who had scarcely recovered from his illness, went out
to Novae in search of guides who might lead him to the route taken
by the emperor Trajan.’ An old man who knew it claimed that it was

407

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AM 6089 Chronographia

difficult and had not been passable for many years,® especially in
winter as it went over high mountains and was covered with snow.
Komentiolos, not convinced by the old man's words, set out along
this route. But because of the terrible cold and severe frosts, many of
the Romans and most of the pack animals perished. He barely made
it to Philippoupolis.? With the Romans wintering there,
Komentiolos came to Byzantium. I 1°”?

Illn the same year” a man wearing monastic habit and eminent for
his austere life, unsheathed a sword and ran, sword in hand, from the
Forum to the Chalke,” proclaiming to all that the emperor would
die, murdered by a dagger. Similarly Herodianos” predicted openly
to Maurice what would happen to him.ufThe emperor went bare-
foot on a litany at night with the whole city, and when he was going
by the quarter of Karpianos,'* some of the crowd became disorderly
and threw stones at the emperor who was barely saved with his son
Theodosios and completed the prayer at Blachernai. The people”
found a man of similar appearance to Maurice and put a black cloak
on him, wove him a crown of garlic, set him on an ass, and mocked
him saying, 'He has found a gentle heifer, and, like the young cock,
has leaped on herll« and made children like hard seeds, and no one
dares to speak but he has muzzled everyone. Oh my Lord, terrible
and powerful, strike him on the skull to make him less arrogant.
And I shall vow to you this great ox in thanksgiving."° The emperor
caught and punished many of these.’”

"Theoph. Sim. viii. 1. 10-2. 5. > Ibid. viii. 2. 11-3. 7. © Ibid. viii. 3.
8-13. ¢ Ibid. viii. 3. 13-4. 2. e Ibid. viii. 4. 3-8. f Ibid. vii. 12.
IO-II. a Cf. Joh. Ant., frg. 218b.

" Easter did fall on 26 Mar. in 601.

* There is no evidence for the source of this passage, but its tone and the
proximity of other passages suggest it may be from Joh. Ant.

> The Tisza which flows into the Danube just north of Belgrade.

* Here barbarians means Gepids, as Theophanes eventually makes clear,
whereas the barbarians of the previous sentence are Avars.

> The figures and 'Gepids' have been restored from Anastasius’ Latin
translation but are omitted by the Greek manuscripts. Theoph. Sim. gives
8,000 Sklavim.

® Theophanes adds the ‘only’ (KcU fiovov}, Theoph. Sim. states that
Maurice was 'shaken by the Chagan's threat and deceived by his words'.

? Known as the Trajan pass, it had been the main Roman road across the
Haimos mountains.

* In Theoph. Sim. the old man says go years, which, as Whitby, Simoc.
214 N. 14, points out, is difficult to accept since ‘Justinian had constructed
numerous refuge-forts in the Haimos mountains, and it would be surprising

408

Chronographia AM @0

if some had not been located near the route across the Trajan pass’. Whitby
also points out that the importance of the pass suggests that Komentiolos'
plan was sensible, and to do so in winter, when the trees afforded less cover
to the Slavs, was in line with the thinking of Maur. sta. xi. 4. (ed. Dennis,
122).

° Modern Plovdiv in Bulgaria.

*° Arriving in spring 600 according to Theoph. Sim., who also claims (viii.
4. 9) that there was no action between Romans and barbarians in Maurice's
19 th year.

" Theophanes has here corrected Theoph. Sim. who, though dating this
prediction to Maurice's 19th year, placed it after his account of events in
595-
“ive. the entrance to the palace. Theophanes uses the standard term
whereas his source (Theoph. Sim.) has avoided the common name, calling it
‘the palace vestibule’.

Unknown, perhaps a monk. The prophecy, according to Theoph. Sim.,
was revealed to Herodianos ‘not without divine utterance’.

“4 Karpianos, on the Golden Horn near Blachernai (Janin, cp, 368).

® Probably the circus factions.

© Possibly this passage, as the previous one, is from Joh. Ant. Theoph.
Sim. viii. 4. 11-5. 4 also has an account of the disturbances and provides a
precise date, the feast of Candlemas (2 Feb.), 602. The cause is attributed to
severe shortage of food in winter.

‘7 Minor punishments (brief banishment) according to Theoph. Sim. viii.

5- 3-4-

AM 6094 [AD 601/2]

Year of the divine Incarnation 594

Maurice, emperor of the Romans (20 years), 20th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (39 years), 14th year
Kyriakos, bishop of Constantinople (11 years), 8th year
Isaac, bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), 2nd year

Eulogios, bishop of Alexandria (27 years), 23rd year
Anastasios, bishop of Antioch (9 years), 2nd year

In this year, in the month of November,’ indiction 5, the emperor
Maurice joined in marriage his son Theodosios to the daughter of the
patrician Germanus.” They were crowned? by Kyriakos, the patri-
arch of Constantinople. On u January, Dometianus,‘ bishop of
Melitene and a relative of the emperor, died and was buried in the
church of the Holy Apostles by the patriarch Kyriakos and honoured
with funeral rites by the whole Senate.

llThe emperor reappointed and sent out his brother Peter as gen-
eral of Thrace. II® For he had heard that the hordes of the barbarians,°

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AM 6089 Chronographia

with Apsech as general, had congregated round the Cataracts.’ Peter
sent an envoy to Apsech to discuss peace, but Apsech attempted to
capture the Cataracts from the Romans. The Chagan marched on
Constantiola.* The Romans returned to Thrace and came to
Adrianople.lI* The emperor, having learned that the Chagan was
moving against Byzantium, wrote to Peter to return to the Ister and
sent Bonosos,’° the skribon, with ships to transport the troops across
the river. Peter, having sent out his second-in-command Goudoues”
across the Ister, took many captives. Having learned this, the
Chagan sent out Apsech with a host to destroy the tribe of the
Antai”™ for their support of the Romans. When this happened, a por-
tion” of the barbarians went over to the Romans.! I

Maurice, who had been reflecting inwardly and knew that nothing
escapes the notice of God, but that He requites everyone according
to his deeds, and having considered his wrongdoing in not having
ransomed the captives, * judged that it was better to atone for his sin
in this life rather than in the next; and having made supplications in
writing, sent them to all the patriarchal thrones and to all commu-
nities subject to him, and to the monasteries, both those in the
desert and in Jerusalem, and to the lavras, with gifts of money and
candles and incense, so that they would pray for him so that he
might make atonement here and not in the time that is to come. He
was even offended with Philippikos, his brother-in-law, because his
name began with the letter Phi.’° But Philippikos swore in various
ways that his fealty to Maurice was untainted and that he had not
plotted against him. 1 While Maurice was beseeching God to have
mercy on his soul, one night, as he slept, he had a vision that he was
standing at the Bronze Gate’ of the palace by the image of the
Saviour” and a (very great) crowd was beside him. And a voice
came from the portrait of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ,
saying, ‘Bring forward Maurice.’ And the ministers of justice took
hold of him and placed him on the purple disc that is there. And the
divine voice said to him, 'Where do you wish that I requite you?
Here or in the world to come?’ To these words he replied, ‘Merciful
Lord and righteous judge, here preferably and not in the world to
come.’ And the divine voice ordered that Maurice and his wife
(Constantina)” and their children and all their kinsmen be given
over to the soldier Phokas. So Maurice woke upll‘ and having called
his parakoimomenosj’°® sent him to his brother-in-law Philippikos
with orders to bring him to the emperor with all speed. The
parakoimomenos departed and summoned him. Philippikos, on ris-
ing, summoned his wife and embraced her, saying ‘Farewell, you
will not see me again.’ She cried out in a loud voice with lamenta-

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Chionographia AM 6094

tions and said to the paiakoimomenos, 'I beseech you, by God, what
is the matter that he wants him at this hour?’ The parakoimomenos
swore that he did not know and said, 'The emperor suddenly awoke
from his sleep and dispatched me.’ Philippikos asked to receive com-
munion and after this went to the emperor. His wife Gordia™ lay on
the ground crying, weeping, and praying to God. On entering the
imperial bedchamber, Philippikos threw himself at the emperor's
feet. The emperor said to him, 'Forgive me for the sake of God for the
wrong | did you. For until now I have been angry with you.’ And after
ordering the parakoimomenos to leave, he stood up and fell at
Philippikos' feet, saying, 'Forgive me, for I know for certain that you
did no wrong to me. But tell me, do you know in your tagmata” a
certain soldier named Phokas?' After reflecting, Philippikos replied,
‘I do know one who was sent a little while ago as a representative of
the army and who spoke against your authority.’ The emperor asked,
‘Of what character is he?’ Philippikos replied, ‘Rebellious, insolent,
and cowardly.’ Then Maurice said, 'If he is a coward, then he is also
a murderer.’ And he explained to Philippikos the revelation of the
dream. On that night there appeared in the heavens a star which is
called a comet. On the following day there returned the magistri-
anus ** who had been sent to the holy fathers in the desert, bearing
their reply which was that, 'God, having accepted your repentance,
saves your soul and enrols you and your whole family among the
saints, but you will be driven from your thrOne in disgrace and dan-
ger.’ When he heard this, Maurice glorified God greatly™*
nAccordingly, when the season of autumn” arrived, and the
emperor Maurice had ordered Peter to make the army winter” in the
territory of the Sklavini, the Romans objected and refused to do it
because of the exhaustion of their horses, the great amount of booty
that they were holding, and the mass of barbarians scattered about
the countryside, and so they plotted a rebellion.I \“ The general, furi-
ously indignant with the army, drove them to folly. W*' Then heavy
rain fell on the army and it was bitterly cold. Peter stayed about
twenty miles from the army. Maurice disturbed Peter by writing
with orders to cross the Ister and to obtain the winter supplies for
the army from the land of the Sklavini, so that he would not be
forced to provide public food supplies for the Romans.”® The general
summoned Goudoues and said, "The emperor's orders that the
Romans should winter in foreign territory are excessively difficult
for me. For it is wrong to disobey and worse to obey. Avarice gives
birth to nothing good, but is the mother of all evils.*? Since the
emperor is sick with avarice, he is the cause of the greatest evils to
the Romans.’ Having summoned the commanders of the army, he

411

286

287

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AM6iiO Chronographia

revealed to them the emperor's will. They said that the troops would
not accept this. When the troops heard about it, they rebelled. The
higher officers fled from them and came to the general. The troops
congregated and put up the centurion Phokas as their leader, and
having raised him on a shield,*° they acclaimed him as leader. When
Peter heard this, he turned to flight and revealed the whole story to
the emperor.

When the emperor heard the bad news, he tried to keep it secret
from the people. On the next day he even held the chariot races, keep-
ing the news of the disaster secret.Ik But the partisans of the Greens
shouted out, 'Constantine and Domentziolos, O thrice-august mas-
ter of the Romans, are vexing your own colour so that Kroukes may
become our manager,” for the sins we have committed. But God, the
creator of everything, will subject to you without bloodshed every
opponent and enemy both at home and abroad.” 1 The emperor then
declared to the partisans, 'The unruliness and indiscipline of stupid
soldiers should not disturb you at all.' The Blues then said, 'God, who
commanded you to be emperor, will subject to you all who fight
against your realm. If there is a Roman who is ungrateful to you, God
will subject him to your service without bloodshed.'I1’ Then the
emperor, having armed them and calmed them with soothing words,
ordered them to guard the city walls with the demarchs.*? While the
emperor's son (Theodosios),** together with his father-in-law
Germanus, was hunting at Kallikrateia,” the Romans* sent a letter
to Theodosios asking to have him as their emperor; otherwise, they
would proclaim even Germanus as emperor. For they would no
longer put up with being ruled by Maurice.

When Maurice heard of this, he summoned his son to him and
ordered Komentiolos to guard the walls. He accused Germanus
along with his son Theodosios of being the cause of their misfor-
tunes. As Germanus made his defence, Maurice said, 'Germanus,
there are two proofs of my suspicion: the letter from the army to you
and the fact that the army has spared the herd of horses that grazes
on your estates. For they have plundered everything else but spared
yours.®” Do not bother to make a long speech, Germanus, for noth-
ing is sweeter than to die by the sword’. n' Germanus sought refuge
in the church of the Mother of God in the quarter of Kyros.?* When
the emperor learned this, he dispatched the eunuch Stephen*® to
remove Germanus from the church. Since Stephen was intending to
use force in taking him out, Germanus' bodyguard opposed Stephen
and then drove him off, took Germanus, and fled to the Great
Church.*° The emperor flogged his son Theodosios with rods. For he
claimed that it was because of him that Germanus had escaped. 1’ He

412

Chronographia AM 20

sent the excubitors to remove Germanus from the Great Church. At
this great uproar fell upon the city. Germanus was willing to come
out and to surrender himself. But the people would not accept this
and abused the emperor with heavy insults, saying, 'May the one
who loves you be stripped of his skin, Maurice, you Marcianite.’”
Next those who were guarding the walls, when they learned of this,
neglected their watch. Then the Green faction set fire to the house
of Constantine surnamed Lardos.|l*”

IIIn the middle of the night Maurice took off his imperial robes,
put on civilian dress, boarded a dromon with his wife, children, and
Constantine and fled * The masses continued to abuse the emperor
with the vilest insults throughout the whole night and even mocked
the patriarch Kyriakos. After a great storm had blown up Maurice,
after very great danger, reached safety at St Autonomos “ During
the same night he was attacked by arthritic disease, 1’ known as foot-
gout Hand hand-gout. From there he sent his son Theodosios with
Constantine to Chosroes, emperor of the Persians, to remind him of
what he had obtained from Maurice so that he might repay the good
deed to his son. II”

II Germanus made overtures to Sergius, demarch of the Green fac-
tion, to enlist his support to make him emperor, promising to hon-
our the Green faction and to grant him great honours. Sergius
commended this to the leaders of the colour. They rejected it saying,
‘'Germanus would never break from his support for the Blues.'II"*°

IIThe Greens, having gone out to Rhegion,*° honoured the usurper
Phokas with great acclamation and persuaded him to come to the
Hebdomon.*”” Accordingly Phokas sent Theodore the a secretis,**
who went to the Great Church and read [a proclamation] to the peo-
ple that the patriarch, the demes, and the Senate should come to the
Hebdomon. 1° When this had taken place and everyone had arrived
at the Hebdomon, the patriarch Kyriakos demanded an assurance
from the usurper regarding the orthodox faith and that he would
guard the Church without disturbance.” [IThe usurper appeared to
encourage Germanus to be emperor. But when Germanus pretended
that he was unwilling and the factions acclaimed the usurper, the
evil was proclaimed and the usurper was elected as lord of the scep-
tres, disaster overcame prosperity and the great misfortunes of the
Romans began. The proclamation of the usurper took place in the
church of John the Baptist.*° After tarrying there for two days, he
entered the palace on the third,” seated in the imperial carriage.”
On the fifth day he crowned his wife Leontia as Augusta. That day
the factions were at strife with each other over the positions of their
precincts.Ik The usurper sent out his fellow rebel, Alexander, to

413

290

AM 6 iO Chronographia

calm the factions. Alexander came to blows with Kosmas, demarch
of the Blues, whom he shoved and insulted. The Blues out of annoy-
ance began chanting 'Go away and learn the protocol.** Maurice is
not dead.'lla

uWhen the usurper heard this, he made ready to murder
Maurice.» Having sent out some soldiers he brought [Maurice and
his family] to the harbour of Eutropios® at Chalcedon. The five?”
male children of the emperor were put to death first before his eyes,
so punishing the emperor in advance with the slaughter of his
children. Maurice, reflecting wisely on this calamity, kept on invok-
ing the God of all and frequently repeated, 'Righteous art thou O
Lord, and upright are thy judgements.’ The death of the children in
fact provided the epitaph for the father who showed an example of
bravery in the face of enormous misfortune.*’ For when a nurse con-
cealed one of the imperial infants and offered her own for slaughter,
Maurice did not allow it but sought out his own. II’ It is said that,
when this child was slaughtered, milk flowed with the blood so that
all who witnessed it lamented bitterly.” IISo the emperor, proving
superior to the laws of nature, exchanged his present life. | |*

uFrom that moment calamities that were both manifold and
extraordinary did not cease in the empire of the Romans.ll* For
Chosroes, the emperor of the Persians, broke the peace, the Avars
devastated Thrace, and both of the Roman armies were destroyed to
such an extent that Ilwhen Herakleios became emperor and made
an accurate review of the army,” out of the whole mass who had
been present with Phokas at the time of the uprising against
Maurice, he could find no more than two men.II" To such a degree
were those who established the usurper destroyed in his time.©

" Theoph. Sim. viii. 4. 9. > Ibid. viii. 5. 5-7. © Ibid. viii. 5. 8-6. 1.
4 Joh. Ant., frg. 2i8d. © Theoph. Sim. viii. 6. 2. > Ibid. viii. 6. 4.
* Ibid. viii. 6. 8-7. 8. » Tbid. viii. 7. 8-9. ' Ibid. viii. 8. 2-9. > Ibid,
viii. 8. n-15. k Ibid. viii. 9.1-5. 1! Ibid. viii. 9. 7-10. m Ibid. viii.
9-. IT. "Ibid. viii. 9. 14-16. ° Ibid. viii. 10. 1-3. P Ibid. viii. 10.
4-10. 1 Ibid. viii. 10. n-13. ' Ibid. viii. 11. 1-5. « Ibid. viii. 11. 6.
" Ibid. viii. 12. 14. " Tbid. viii. 12. 12.

"ie. Nov. 601. Chron. Pasch. 693. 3-5 puts the date at Feb. 602 with cel-
ebrations from 9g to 15 Feb. Whitby, Simoc. 215 nn. i7-rg, suggests the two
dates can be combined, with the marriage in Nov. 601 and the festivities
being provided in Feb. to regain public goodwill after the rioting, and, no
doubt, the food shortage.

* Germanus was probably the general and former governor of Africa,
made Caesar along with Maurice by Tiberius in 582 (see AM 6074). But cf.
PLRE iii. 528, 531-2 which treats them separately as Germanus 5 and n.

414

Chronographia AM &0

3 ie. simply as part of a wedding ceremony.

4 A nephew. Cf. AM 6081.

> The date is taken from Theoph. Sim. who has Maurice's 20th year,
which is probably taken from a chronicle source. As there was one further
campaign season in Maurice's reign, the actual date must in fact have been
601. See Whitby, Simoc. 215 n. 16.

° Avars. The date is Autumn 601, so Theophanes' AM date is accurate.

? The turbulent 80-mile stretch of the Danube downstream from the
confluence with the Morava. Because of the turbulence, ships had to be
towed upstream through the cataracts and hence their strategic importance.
See Whitby, Simoc. 216 n. 23.

® On the north bank of the Danube, opposite the confluence of the
Morava and the Danube.

° Modern Edirne in European Turkey.

© In Theoph. Sim. it is Peter, not Maurice, who sends Bonosos and it is
quite possible that Theophanes also intends Peter to be the subject of ‘sent’.
On the skribones see Jones, LRE 658-9 and cf. AM 6074 and 6089, n. 5.
Bonosos is probably the Bonosos who supported Phokas. Cf. AM 6101. See
Joh. Nik. 105 and 107.

"Cf. AM 609 r for Goudoues/Godwin.

* For the Antai, see Bury, ERE ii. 21-2. Little is known of them. They
lived north or north-east of the Slavs and had suffered much from the Avars
during Justinian's reign. According to Mich. Syr. ii. 362, 'they had reached
an agreement with Maurice to ravage Slav territory in an (unsuccessful)
attempt to persuade the Slavs to terminate their raids into the empire’
(Whitby, Simoc. 217 n. 26).

3 'Large numbers’ according to Theoph. Sim.

“ Cf. AM 6092k. The source is probably Joh. Ant.

° Cf. AM 6093f and g. Theophanes has omitted the details of a ‘prophecy’
that his successor's name would begin with the letter Phi.

'© Theophanes usually just has 'Chalke' but here adds ‘gate’.

‘7 Joh. Ant. describes the vision without mentioning the role of the icon
which appears to be an iconodule addition to the story in the iconoclast
period. The icon itself is first mentioned in the Patria, ii. 196-7, where
Maurice is said to have placed statues of himself and his family above the
icon. Since this is unlikely, the icon was more probably set up sometime after
Maurice's reign. See Mango, Brazen House, 108-12. For the destruction of the
icon by Leo III (his first open act of iconoclasm), see AM 6218 (de Boor, 405).

8 Restored from Anastasius’ Latin translation.

Restored from Anastasius’ Latin translation.

*° An officer who sleeps near the emperor. PLRE iii. 1195, Stephanus 53,
suggests that this man may be identical with the Stephen mentioned below
(de Boor, 288).

** Maurice's sister.

The tagmata were formations of troops of about 300 men.
i.e. member of the staff of the magister officiorum and often sent as an
imperial messenger.

415

AM6iiO Chronographia

*4 Theophanes' source here is perhaps still Joh. Ant. or perhaps a hagio-
graphy of Maurice similar to the Syriac hagiography of him edited and trans-
lated by F. Nau, PO 5 (1910), 773-8.

*® i.e. of 602, and so should properly be under AM 6095.

27. In Theoph. Sim. it is Peter who turns to folly by camping away from
the troops.

8 Theophanes follows Theoph. Sim. in interpreting Maurice's motives in
terms of avarice and parsimony rather than in terms of his winter strategy.

* Cf. 1 Tim. 6: 10 'the love of money is the root of all evil’. Theoph.
Sim.'s original, 'an avaricious manner brings forth nothing good; avarice is
a citadel of evils’ (tr. Whitby, Simoc. 219) was preserved by Constantine
Porphyrogenitus for his encyclopaedic collection 'on sayings’ (irepl yvaifidii').
For its high-flown language, Theophanes has substituted something simpler
and more biblical.

3° i.e. they were proclaiming him emperor. Phokas was later also raised
on a shield by the factions at the Hebdomon (Joh. Ant., frg. 2i8d. 4). Joh.
Nik. 102. 10-11, states that the initial aim of the mutiny was simply to
exact better conditions for the army and only later became a movement to
replace Maurice as emperor. See Whitby, Simoc. 218 n. 28 (also 220 n. 32 for
the shield raising).

3" Y. Janssens, Byz 11 (1936), 504, suggests a different punctuation (full
stop or semicolon after -rrapevoxXovoiv, no comma after Sioik-rjarj) and trans-
lates, 'May Kroukos become our manager’, etc.

» As with the circus dialogue recorded at AM 6024, both the chant by the
Greens and the following one by the Blues show signs of being metrical, or
at least can be arranged, with little textual alteration, into isosyllabic lines
with regular accentuation. The Blues’ chant is actually described as an ode
by Theoph. Sim. See P. Maas, BZ 21 (1912), 28-51; Cameron, Circus
Factions, 332. Constantine is presumably Constantine Lardys/Lardos, the
praetorian prefect. See PLRE iii. 347-8, Constantinus 33. Cf. n. 42. For
Domentziolos see PLRE iii. 413-14. Theoph. Sim. describes him as one of
the leaders of the Senate and a man of distinction close to Maurice. We do
not know Theophanes' source. Theoph. Sim. confirms the last sentence of
the chant, but attributes the chanting solely to the Blues, which
Theophanes accepts for 'h'. Cf. the Nika riots, where Theophanes had access
to a chant which he apparently substituted for his main text. Is the first line
here a similar substitute, which may not be applicable to the occasion?

33 Theoph. Sim. records the numbers of the faction members: 1,500
Greens and goo Blues. Cf. AM 6092, n. 13 for what are probably the faction
members guarding the city walls rather than the Long Walls, which required
more military competence and larger numbers. See Cameron, Circus
Factions, ch. 5.

34 Restored from Anastasius’ Latin translation.

>> On the shore of the gulf of Athyras (Biiyiik s£ekmece). See A. G.
Paspates, KE<PZ 12 (1877-8), 36.

416

Chronographia AM @o

Theophanes has transferred these first two sentences to Maurice's
speech, which, in Theoph. Sim., are given as part of the narrative. There is
no sign that he has an independent source giving Maurice's speech in more
detail.

8 Cf. AM 5937 for Cyrus/Kyros. On the situation of the church see A.
Berger, Untersuchungen zu den Patria Konstantinupoleos, Poikila
Byzantina, 8 (Bonn, 1988), 477 ff.

© Royal tutor (baiulus) of the emperor's sons. For the position; cf. AM
5936, 6282 (de Boor, 465), 6283 (de Boor, 466). Cf. n. 20 above.

4° Hagia Sophia.

* Again Theophanes gives this chant in direct speech whereas Theoph.
Sim. only states the people ‘arrayed him in the register of the Marcianites'.
The accusation is part of the stock vocabulary of abuse and was probably
used for no better reason than assonance,- cf. H. Gregoire, Byz 13 (1938),
395-6. In this case the lively language of the chant suggests that Theophanes
has found the information in a separate source, but there is little to go on.

*” Cf. n. 32. Given that Constantine was unpopular with the Green fac-
tion, the chants there (n. 32) and the arson here may have nothing to do with
Maurice.

® On the night of 22 Nov. 602 {Chron. Pasch. 693. 15).

“4 Near Prainetos (modern Karamursel) on the south shore of the gulf of
Nicomedia about 45 miles from Constantinople. See Janin, Grands centres,
86-7 and esp. C. Foss, DOP 41 (1987), 187 ff.

*® As Whitby, Simoc. 224 n. 52, points out, 'this incident clearly illus-
trates the important role that the circus factions might play in political
affairs in the later Roman Empire’ and ‘that in some cases partisanship went
beyond mere sporting enthusiasm’. For Sergius, see PLRE iii. 1134, Sergius
39-

“© For Rhegion, near Kiifiik gekmece, see AM 6050, n. 7.

4” Hebdomon, a suburb of Constantinople about r1 km. from the centre
of the city. See AM 5930, n. 3.

# A secretis, a senior member of the official stenographers. See Joh. Lyd.
De Mag. iii. 9 and 27, Jones, LRE 574.

49 Theophanes shows his interest by inserting this statement from an
unkown source, possibly Joh. Ant. Chron. Pasch. simply mentions that the
patriarch Kyriakos crowned Phokas at the church of St John in Hebdomon
on 23 Nov. 602.

°° The church of John the Baptist at the Hebdomon had been used for the
proclamation of various emperors in the 5 th cent. See Janin, Eglises, 413-15.

* Theophanes here seems to be combining Theoph. Sim. with informa-
tion also preserved by Chron. Pasch. Chron. Pasch. 693. 19-23, states that
Phokas entered the city on 25 Nov. (ie. Theophanes' ‘delay of 2 days’),
whereas Theoph. Sim. states that Phokas entered on the day following the
coronation (i.e. Theophanes' 3rd day).

* Theoph. Sim., supplemented by Chron. Pasch., provides a detailed
account.

417

AM6iiO Chronographia

3 je: 28 Nov. Theophanes' source for the date is not known. Theoph.
Sim. viii. 10. 9 implies 25 Nov. i.e. 2 days after Phokas.

** The meaning is in dispute. Cameron, Circus Factions, 251-3, argued
that KardoTaois should be translated 'ceremonial'; the Whitbys prefer 'posi-
tion’, Simoc. 226 n. 60. The Blues’ chant is recorded by Joh. Ant., frg. 218d,
Geo. Mon. 662. 15-16, and Leo Gramm. 143. 20.

°° On 27 Nov. according to Chron. Pasch. 694. 3.

5° See Janin, CP, 238-9.

>’ Theophanes adds the figure five. Chron. Pasch. records the names of
four (694. 4-5): Tiberius, Peter, Justin, Justinian. Theophanes may have
reached the number five by including Maurice's fourth son, Paul (cf. Chron.
Pasch. 693. 13), but he may also have included here Theodosios who, as
Theoph. Sim. viii. 11. 1-2, 13.3 points out, had returned to Maurice and was
executed near St Autonomos. In either case, Theophanes has modified his
summary of Theoph. Sim. with information from Chron. Pasch. or a com-
mon source, which may also be the source of the final sentence in Megas
Chron.: 'On account of the said impiety Maurice underwent the punish-
ment of slaughter, since he was rent asunder with his women and children
and relatives’, tr. Whitby and Whitby, Chron. Pasch. 200.

°° Theophanes has restored the text of Ps. 118 (119): 137, whereas
Theoph. Sim. repeated ‘righteous’.

°° Also recorded in the Syriac hagiography of Maurice (ed. and tr. L. Leroy
andF. Nau, PO 5 (1910), 773-8). Cf. Whitby, Byz 53 (1983), 337-44.

°° Theophanes' source is unknown.

* Cf. AM 6103. For the Persian victories, see AM 6096-6100. There is,
however, no reference in Theophanes to Avar victories during Phokas' reign.

Cf. AM 6103.

° Theophanes' characteristic judgement.

AM 6095 [AD 602/3]

Year of the divine Incarnation 595

Phokas, emperor of the Romans (7 years), 1st year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (39 years), 15th year
Kyriakos, bishop of Constantinople (11 years), gth year
Isaac, bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), 3rd year

Eulogios, bishop of Alexandria (27 years), 24th year
Anastasios, bishop of Antioch (9 years), 3rd year

In this year, in the month of November, indiction 6,' the usurper
Phokas, upon his accession, slew Maurice together with his five
male children as already indicated.il He directed that their heads
should be placed for several days in the Campus of the Tribunal;*
and the inhabitants of the City would go forth and view them until
they began to smell.u* Peter, Maurice's brother, and many others

418

Chronographia AM &

were also slain.u° As for Maurice's son Theodosios, a rumour pre-
vails that he escaped and was saved.lI° This rumour was fanned by
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians, who on different occasions
uttered different lies, alleging that he had Theodosios with him and
was making provision that he should take possession of the Empire
of the Romans; whereas he was himself hoping to gain control of the
Roman Empire by deceit, whereof he was convicted in many ways,
especially by starting sudden wars and inflicting great damage on the
Roman lands. When Phokas had sent to him the ambassador Bilios,?
Chosroes arrested this man and threw him in prison so he could not
return to Roman territory, and gave answer to Phokas by means of
insulting letters. 11 As for the empress Constantina, the usurper con-
fined her, together with her three daughters, in a private house
known as that of Leo. n°

uIn the city of Alexandria a certain calligrapher, who was a pious
man, was returning home from a vigil—it was the middle of the
night—when he saw the statues, toppled from their pedestals, pro-
claiming in a loud voice that Maurice and his children had been
killed and all the other calamities that had happened at Byzantium.
In the morning the man went to the augustalis and reported these
matters to him. The latter enjoined upon him not to reveal them to
anyone and, having noted the day, waited for the outcome. On the
ninth day a messenger arrived announcing the slaying of Maurice.
Thereupon the augustalis made public before the people the predic-
tion of the demons.II®

Now Narses, who was a Roman general, rose up against the
usurper and seized Edessa.* Thereupon Phokas wrote to the general
Germanus to lay siege to Edessa; while Narses wrote to Chosroes,
emperor of the Persians, to collect his forces and make war on the
Romans. Phokas made his own brother Domentziolos® magister and
Priscus comes excubitorum.

"Cf. Theoph. Sim. 307.24-308. 2. 6 Cf. Theoph. Sim. 308.28 ff.
¢ Cf. Theoph. Sim. 309.12 ff., 314. 17 ff. 4 Theoph. Sim. 313.13-16.
"Theoph. Sim. 309. 28-311. 15.

" AD 602. * At the Hebdomon. See above, p. 373 and n. 5.

3 Recte Li(l)lios. He was sent on his embassy in the 5th month of Phokas
(Theoph. Sim. 313. 16 ff.) = Mar./Apr. 603. Cf. PLRE iii. 793, Lillis.

* On the revolt of Narses see Kaegi, Unrest, r40-i; PLRE iii. 935. The
other sources are Sebeos, 56-7, Jac. Edess. 248; Chr. 819, 7 (presumably AG
913); Chr. 846, 174, AG 914; Mich. Syr. ii. 379; Chr. 1234, 173 (which gives
the name of John to Phokas' general sent against Narses).

> There is some confusion about the kinsmen of Phokas. In addition to a

419

292

AM6iiO Chronographia

brother and a nephew, both called Domnitziolus or Doment(z)iolos, V.
Theodori Sykeot. cc. rs2, 161 also mentions (mistakenly?) a brother called
Komentiolos. See Kaegi, BZ 66 (1973), 308 ff.. PLRE iii. 417-18.

[AM 6096, AD 603/4]

Phokas, 2nd year
Chasroes, 16th year
Kyriakos, iothyear
Isaac, 4th year
Eulogios, 25 th year
Anastasios, 4th year

In the month of December of this year, indiction 7," Phokas went in
procession during the feast days and distributed much largess.” And
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians, collected a great force and sent it
against the Romans. When Germanus had heard of this, he took
fright, but was compelled to start war. Germanus was wounded in
battle and his bodyguard escorted him to Constantina; and the
Romans were defeated.* And on the eleventh day Germanus died. As
for Phokas, he conveyed the armies from Europe to Asia after
increasing the tribute to the Chagan in the belief that the Avar
nation was at rest. Dividing the armies, he sent (one part) against the
Persians and the other part to besiege Edessa, that is against Narses,
under the command of the eunuch Leontios, who was one of his
magnates.* And Chosroes collected his forces and marched on
Daras, while Narses departed from Edessa and took refuge at
Hierapolis. Chosroes met the Romans? at Arxamoun? and, setting
his elephants in a fort-like formation, went into battle and won a
great victory. He captured many of the Romans and beheaded them.
When these things had been done, Chosroes returned to his own
land entrusting his forces to Zongoes. When Phokas had heard of
this, he was angered at Leontios and brought him ignominiously to
Byzantium in iron fetters; and he appointed Domentziolos, his own
nephew, to be commander-in-chief and gave him the rank of
curopalates.

* AD 603.

* i.e. he assumed the consulship on Christmas Day (not on 1 Jan.) as
Maurice had done before him. Cf. E. Stein in Melanges Bidez, ii (1934), 887.

3 Sebeos, 56, mentions a Persian victory at an unnamed spot between
Dara and Edessa.

4 On whom see PLRE iii. 780, Leontius 29.

> O Si Xoopo-gs ow rots Foifiaiois ytverai els TO Hp*afiow. The con-

420

Chronographia AM 60

struction is ambiguous, since it can also be understood as 'Chosroes
together with the Romans came to Arxamoun.'

° Same as Arzamon, above, p. 377. The battle in question should proba-
bly be connected with the evacuation by the Romans of nearby Marde:
Mich. Syr. ii. 378, presumably AG 915.

[AM 6097, AD 604/5]

Phokas, 3rd year
Chosroes, 17th year
Kyriakos, uth year
Isaac, 5 th year
Eulogios, 26 th year
Anastasios, 5 th year

In this year Chosroes sent out Kardarigas and Rousmiazan’ and they
captured many Roman cities. Domentziolos for his part gave a
promise to Narses and persuaded him by means of many oaths that
he would suffer no harm at the hands of Phokas, and so sent him to
Phokas, who, not keeping the promise, burnt him in a fire.* The
Romans were much distressed since Narses inspired great fear
among the Persians, so much so that Persian children trembled
when they heard the name of Narses. (The Persians, on the other
hand, were filled with great joy.)

PLRE 1. 270-1, distinguishes this Kardarigas or Kardarigan from the
one active in 582-6 (AM 6075). Rousmiazan, called Rumiazan in Chr. 1234,
174, Romizan in Mich. Syr. ii. 377-8, Xorian or Xoren in Armenian sources,
is better known by his title Sahrvaraz (the Wild Boar of the Realm). His
patronymic was Farruhan. See Justi, Namenbuch, s.v. Farruxan, Razmiozan,
and Sahrwaraz.

* Sebeos, 57, says that Narses was captured at Edessa and put to death. Cf.
Mich. Syr. ii. 379; Chr. 1234,173.

[AM 6098, AD 605/6]

Phokas, 4th year

Chosroes, 18 th year

Thomas, bishop of Constantinople (3 years), 1st year
Isaac, 6th year

Eulogios, 27th year

Anastasios, 6th year

In this year the eunuch Scholastikos,’ a titled man from the palace,
in the middle of the night took the empress Constantina and her

421

293

am 6iiO Chronographia

three daughters and sought asylum in the Great Church at the insti-
gation of the patrician Germanus, who was reaching after the impe-
rial office. As a result, there was great disturbance in the City. The
Greens gathered at the kochlias and reviled Constantina, while
Germanus sent a talent of gold to the demarch of the Greens that he
might co-operate with his party,- but the leading men of the deme did
not consent to this. The usurper sent men to the church to remove
the women, but the patriarch Kyriakos opposed him because he did
not consent that the women should be removed from the church by
force. Only when he had been assured by Phokas under oath that the
latter would not harm them, were they brought out of the holy
church and confined to a monastery. As for Germanus, Phokas had
him tonsured and ordained a priest,- and he kept him under guard in
his own house. At that time Philippikos, too, cut off his hair’ and
took holy orders and dwelt at the monastery at Chrysopolis which
he had built.

In this year the Persians captured Daras* and all of Mesopotamia
and Syria,*® taking an innumerable multitude of captives.

On the death of the patriarch Kyriakos, Thomas was ordained in
his stead on 1 October.° He had been deacon and sakellaiios of the
same church.

* Apparently a proper name and so taken in PLRE iii. 1117. Or was he the
same as the conspirator Romanus, who appears under AM 6099 and whom
Chion. Pasch. 696. 8 calls a scholasticus (advocate)?

* A few words appear to have dropped out at this point as indicated by dB
in his apparatus.

3 According to Chron. Pasch. 695, Philippikos and Germanus entered the
clergy in 603.

* Dara appears to have been taken in the summer of 604: Khuz. Chr. 19,
14th year of Chosroes; Chr. 724, 113, AG 915, ind. 7; Mich. Syr. ii. 378, 2nd
year of Phokas, AG 915. This agrees with the indication given below, p. 452:
AD 628 minus 24 = 604. Chr. Seert, 200 and Chr. 1234, 174, say that the siege
of Dara lasted nine months,- Sebeos, 57, has 18 months. Latest discussion by
Flusin, Anastase, ii. 71 ff.

> In fact, the conquest of Mesopotamia took over five years to accomplish
and that of Syria started in 610. See Flusin, Anastase, ii. 74.

° According to Chron. Pasch. 697, Kyriakos died on 29 Oct. 606 and
Thomas was appointed in his place on 23 Jan. 607.

294 AM 6099 [AD 606/7]

Year of the divine Incarnation 599
Phokas, emperor of the Romans (7 years), 5th year

422

Chronographia AM 6099

Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (39 years), 19th year
Thomas, bishop of Constantinople (3 years), 2nd year
Isaac, bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), 7th year
Theodore, bishop of Alexandria (2 years), 1st year
Anastasios, bishop of Antioch (9 years), 7th year

uIn this year the usurper Phokas gave his daughter Domentzia in
marriage to the patrician Priscus, who was comes excubitorum, and,
while the wedding was being celebrated in the palace of Marina, he
commanded that chariot races be held. The demarchs of the two
factions set up in the tetrakiones' the laurata of Priscus and
Domentzia along with the imperial ones. When the emperor saw
them, he was vexed and summoned the demarchs Theophanes and
Pamphilos and, making them stand naked at the stama,’ he ordered
that they should be beheaded. Sending his chief messenger, he asked
them by whose order they had done such a thing. They replied that
the decorators? had done it according to custom.I\* Now the demes
and the crowd shouted, ‘Long live our merciful emperor!’ When the
decorators were asked why they had done such a thing, they said,
'We did this on our own because everyone called them the emperor's
children.’ As for Priscus, he was seized by terror, fearing as he did the
emperor's irritation. The crowds went on shouting that those men
should be treated mercifully and Phokas forgave them. From that
time on, therefore, Priscus harboured anger and did not deal honestly
with Phokas.

A certain woman called Petronia served the empress Constantina
in conveying messages to Germanus. As the rumour spread about
that Theodosios, the son of Maurice, was alive, both Constantina
and Germanus had high hopes on that account. But the foul Petronia
revealed these matters to the usurper and he delivered Constantina
to the prefect Theopemptos* to be subjected to torture; and as she
was being tortured, she confessed that the patrician Romanus was
privy to their conversations. When this man had been arrested (and
interrogated), he admitted that he had other accomplices in the plot
against the usurper. II Also arrested was Theodore, prefect of the
East, whom the usurper killed by flogging. He cut off the hands and
feet of Elpidios and then threw him in the fire; he beheaded
Romanus and put to the sword Constantina with her three daughters
at the jetty of Eutropios, where Maurice, too, had been slain,- and he
killed by the sword Germanus and the latter's daughter on the island
of Prote, and likewise John and Tzitas and Patricius and Theodosios,
who held the rank of subadiuva, and Andrew Skombros and David,
who was chartophylax of the palace of Hormisdas.II”

42.3

295

AM 6iiO Chronographia

II In the same year: the Persians crossed the Euphrates and captured
all of Syria, Palestine, and Phoenicia, wreaking great devastation

among the Romans.II:

" Cf. foh. Ant. c. log. 5 Cf. Chion. Pasch. 696-7 (June 605 J, which gives fur-
ther details, but omits David and the mention of the island Piote. Cf. also below, AM
6101. "Cf. cai. 1234, 176, AG 922 (sic], 8th year of Phokas, 20th of Chosroes;

Chi. 724, 113, AG 921; Mich. Syr. ii. 378, AG 921, 8th year of Phokas.

* Groups of four columns in the Hippodrome. The relief on the south face
of the pedestal of the Egyptian obelisk shows on the spina an arch supported
on four columns.

* Presumably a corruption of OKap.ua [Chron. Pasch. 530), an area of the
Hippodrome used for athletic contests, directly in front of the imperial box.
See Guilland, Etudes, i. 451 ff.

3 ypapnaral, translated by Anast. as lineatores. Cf. Cer. 573. 17:
eypapiadr/aav a.7ro 8a<f>vu>v... oravpla Kai are</>dvta Ibid. 586. 17: 0
XpvaorpikXivos aneypap-ladi) rrjs TTpoppridelarjs ypajx.fi'fjs, and Reiske's note,
ii. 696.

* Prefect of Constantinople. His name appears on preserved glass
weights: D. Feissel, revvum, 6th ser. 28 (1986), 125-6.

> Actually, the Persians crossed the Euphrates in Aug. 610, first taking
Zenobia. Discussion of sources in Flusin, Anast'ase, ii. 74-6.

AM 6100 [AD 607/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 600

Phokas, emperor of the Romans (7 years), 6th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (39 years), 20th year
Thomas, bishop of Constantinople (3 years), 3rd year
Isaac, bishop of Jerusalem (8 years), 8th year
Theodore, bishop of Alexandria (2 years), 2nd year
Anastasios, bishop of Antioch (9 years), 8th year

Illn this year Priscus, who could not suffer to witness the unjust
murders and other evils that were being perpetrated by Phokas,
wrote to the patrician Herakleios, who was strategos of Africa, that
he should send his son Herakleios and Niketas, the son of the patri-
cian Gregoras, his second-in-command, with a view to their attack-
ing the usurper Phokas;ll* for he had heard that a revolt was being
planned against Phokas in Africa. For this reason the African ships
did not set sail during this year.’

Phokas slew all the relatives of Maurice and Komentiolos, strate-
gos of Thrace,* and many others without pity. In the same year there
occurred a plague and a shortage of all commodities.

424

Chronographia AM 6101

The Persians marched out under the command of Kardarigas and
occupied Armenia and Cappadocia and defeated the Roman armies in
battle. They took Galatia and Paphlagonia and advanced as far as
Chalcedon,: killing indiscriminately people of every age.ll: And while
the Persians were oppressing the Romans outside the City, Phokas
was committing worse crimes inside by murdering and imprisoning
people. Il:

a Cf. Joh. Ant. c. 109. 6 Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 379; Chr. 1234, 176. & Cf
Nik. 1. 4; Mich. Syr. ii. 378; Chr. 1234, 176-

* Presumably the ships that carried grain to Constantinople.

* Komentiolos was actually executed immediately after the accession of
Phokas, in late Nov. or Dec. 602: Chron. Pasch. 694. Cf. PLRE iii. 325.

3 Chr. 1234, closest to Theoph., also mentions simultaneously under AG
g22 the crossing of the Euphrates and, no doubt by way of anticipation, a
Persian advance to Cappadocia, Galatia, and the environs of Constan-
tinople, but attributes these exploits to Sahrvaraz. V. Theodori Sykeot., c.
153 demonstrates that no such advance into Asia Minor could have taken
place at the time. Sebeos, 63, records in the 2oth year of Chosroes (609/10)
a Persian invasion of Cappadocia under the command of Sahin. The advance
to Chalcedon must be that of 615: Chron. Pasch. 706. For the occupation of
Armenia, which required several campaigns, see Flusin, Anastase, ii. 79 ff.

* We have ascribed this epigram to the Oriental source because it appears
in the same sequence in Chr. 1234. Its presence in Nik., who did not use any
Oriental material, proves, however, that it was ultimately of Byzantine
origin.

AM 6101 [AD 608/9]

Year of the divine Incarnation 601

Phokas, 7th year

Chosroes, 21st year

Sergios, bishop of Constantinople (29 years), 1st year’
Zacharias, bishop of Jerusalem (22 years), 1st year
John, bishop of Alexandria (10 years), 1st year
Anastasios, 9 th year

In this year the Jews of Antioch, becoming disorderly, staged an
uprising against the Christians and murdered Anastasios, the great
patriarch of Antioch, whose genitals they put in his mouth. After
this, they dragged him along the main street” and they killed many
landowners and burnt them. Phokas appointed Bonosos comes
Orientis and Kottanas military commander and sent them against

42,5

297

298

AM 6LOI Chronographia

the Jews, (but they were unable to stop the uprising). So they gath-
ered troops and attacked them, and many of them they killed and
maimed and banished from the city.’

u Phokas held chariot races and the Greens reviled him, saying,
‘Once again you have drunk from the cup! Once again you have lost
your mind!’ On orders from Phokas, Kosmas the prefect of the City*
maimed many persons and hung their limbs in the Sphendone, while
others he beheaded and others he put in sacks and drowned in the
sea. The Greens gathered together and set fire to the Praetoriumll*
and burnt the secietum, the bureaux, and the prison; and the pris-
oners escaped. Phokas was angered and ordered that the Greens
should be barred from holding public office.’

liHerakleios, strategos of Africa, being pressed by the Senate,
equipped his son Herakleios so as to send him against the usurper
Phokas. Likewise, his second-in-command, Gregoras, sent by land
his son Niketas, and they agreed that the one who would come first
and vanquish the usurper would become emperor. u

In the same year there was very severe cold so that the sea froze
and, in these conditions, many fish were cast out.1I:

At this time Phokas ordered that Makrobios the skiibon should be
shot with arrows at the encampment’ and left to die hanging from a
spear—the kind used by recruits in their training—at the castle of
the Theodosiani’ in the Hebdomon; and this because he had been
privy to the conspiracy against him. For the prefect Theodore the
Cappadocian and Elpidios, head of the arms stores, as well as others
had made a plan to kill Phokas at the hippodrome games. Theodore,
the praetorian prefect, gave a luncheon at which he began to explain
his purpose to them. It happened that Anastasios, the comes laigi-
tionum, was present. As lunch was being served and Theodore was
explaining the details of the conspiracy, Anastasios (who was there)
changed his mind and did not express his private thoughts, but
remained silent. As for Elpidios, he insisted, saying, ‘Don't you want
me to seize him when he is sitting on his throne at the hippodrome
games and gouge out his eyes and kill him in this manner?’ And he
promised to give them arms. When the matter became k®own to
Phokas through the denunciation of Anastasios, he ordered that the
prefect.and Elpidios and the other dignitaries who had knowledge of
the conspiracy should be interrogated with the utmost thorough-
ness. When they had been interrogated, they confessed the particu-
lars of the conspiracy and that they were intending to make
Theodore emperor. Phokas ordered that Theodore, Elpidios,
Anastasios, and all the others who had knowledge of the conspiracy
should be beheaded.®

426

Chronographia AM 620

° Cf. Joh. Ant. c. 109. > Cf. Nik. 1. 7 ff.; Mich. Syr. ii. 378; Chr. 1234, 1773
Agapios, 189; Chr. Seert, 207. © cf. Chr. 724, 113, AGg2o, ind. 12: Euphrates
freezes, fish perish; Mich. Syr. ii. 378 (AG 918), 379.

" In fact, Thomas died on 20 Mar. 610 and Sergius was appointed oni8
Apr.: Chron. Pasch. 699 (where 8 Apr. ought to be corrected to 18).

* im rr) p.eo-rjv. This name was not limited to the main street of
Constantinople. Amese at Ptolemais appears in Doctr. Jacobi, iv. 5. 23.

3 The murder of Anastasios by soldiers is dated late Sept. 610 by Chron.
Pasch. 699. For the story of his murder by Jews cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 379, 401 (the
year when Herakleios began to reign, ie. 610/n). If Sept. 610 is correct,
Phokas would hardly have had the time to dispatch Bonosos to Antioch. J.
Kulakovskij, VizVrem 21 (1914), 1-14, argues that the mission of Bonosos
occurred in 608 and was unconnected with a Jewish uprising. Doctr. Jacobi,
i. 40, has Bonosos punishing and killing Greens at Antioch. This passage is
also discussed by J. D. Frendo, JQR 72 (1982), 202-4, the point of whose argu-
ment escapes us.

* For a glass weight bearing his name see Zacos, i/3, no.2997.

> On the meaning of this passage see Cameron, Circus Factions, 288-9.

° eis T-ffV aypapiav, h; aypapaiay, c, g; ayopav, e, m. Not a fishing boat
(aypapiov), but presumably a military outpost from Lat. agraria statio. See
Tabachovitz, Studien, 25-8.

7 Or possibly the castle Theodosiana. Several regiments bore the title
Theodosiani. The castle in question may have been the same as the round
castle of the Hebdomon, called Kyklobion or Strongylon, on which see
Janin, CP, 451, 454.

8 This is clearly a repeat of the conspiracy of 605 as shown by the iden-
tity of names. The comes sacrarum largitionum is called Athanasios in

Chron. Pasch. 696. 11.

AM 6102 [AD 609/10]

Year of the divine Incarnation 602

Herakleios, emperor of the Romans (31 years), 1st year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (39 years), 22nd year
Sergius, bishop of Constantinople (29 years), 2nd year
Zacharias, bishop of Jerusalem (22 years), 2nd year
John, bishop of Alexandria (10 years), 2nd year

In this year, on 4 October, a Monday, indiction 14,’ Herakleios
arrived from Africa bringing fortified ships that had on their masts
reliquaries and icons of the Mother of God (as George the Pisidian
relates)" as well as a numerous army from Africa and Mauritania;
and likewise Niketas, the son of the patrician Gregoras, came from
Alexandria and the Pentapolis having with him a big host of
infantry. Now, Herakleios had been betrothed to Eudokia, daughter

427

299

AM6iiO Chronographia

of the African Rogas, who at that time was at Constantinople
together with Epiphaneia, the mother of Herakleios. (And when
Phokas heard that the mother of Herakleios was in the City) as well
as his fiancee Eudokia, he apprehended them and confined them in
the imperial monastery called the New Repentance.”

un When Herakleios had reached Abydos, he found Theodore,
comes of Abydos, whom he interrogated and learnt what was hap-
pening at Constantinople. Phokas, for his part, dispatched his
brother, the magister Domentziolos, to guard the Long Walls; and
when the magister learnt that Herakleios had reached Abydos, he
abandoned the walls and fled to Constantinople. As for Herakleios,
he received at Abydos all (the dignitaries who had been exiled) by
Phokas and came with them to Herakleia. And Stephen, metropoli-
tan of Kyzikos, took a crown from the church of the holy Mother of
God of Artake? and brought it to Herakleios. u? And when he reached
Constantinople, he put in at the harbour of Sophia; and after giving
battle, he defeated the usurper Phokas by the grace of Christ. The
demes seized the latter, killed him, and burnt him at the [Forum]
Bovis.* Herakleios entered the palace and was crowned by the patri-
arch Sergius in the chapel of St Stephen, which is in the palace.? On
the same day his fiancee Eudokia was crowned Augusta and both of
them received the nuptial crowns from the patriarch Sergius, so that
on the same day he became emperor and bridegroom.

II In the month of May the Persians marched into Syria and they took
Apameia and Edessa: and came as far as Antioch. The Romans met
them and gave battle and were defeated; and the entire Roman host
perished so that very few escaped.II:

nOn 7 July of the same indiction’ a daughter, Epiphaneia, was
born to the emperor by Eudokia,I 1‘ and on 15 August she was bap-
tized at Blachernai by the patriarch Sergios.

"Geo. Pisid. wer. ii. 15. > From Joh. Ant. c. no. ¢ Cf. chr. 724, 113,
AG 922: Persians take Emesa; Mich. Syr. ii. 400, 1st year of Herakleios: Persians take
Antioch, Romans defeated; Chr. 1234,177 (closest to Theoph.): Persians take Antioch
on 8 Oct. and Apameia on the 15th; Emesa capitulates; they destroy a Roman force;
Agapios, 190. See also Sebeos, 67: decisive Persian victory near Antioch. a GE.
Chron. Pasch. 702.

* Ind. 14 (AD 610/11) ought to correspond to AM 6103.

* See Janin, Eglises, 332.

3 Modern Erdek, a short distance west of Kyzikos, of which it was for a
time a suburb. Opposite the settlement was an island of the Panagia with
ruins of a Byzantine church. See F. W. Hasluck, Cyzicus (Cambridge, 1910),
16 ff.

4 This succinct account of the overthrow of Phokas bears little resem-

428

Chronographia AM 620

blance to the fuller ones of Chron. Pasch. 699-701, Joh. Ant. c. 149 and Nik.
I (the latter two being related).

> In Hagia Sophia according to Chron. Pasch. 701.

° ReadEmesa. 7 AD 611.

AM 6103 [AD 6lo/I11]

Year of the divine Incarnation 603

Herakleios, emperor of the Romans (31 years), 2nd year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (39 years), 23rd year
Sergius, bishop of Constantinople (29 years), 3rd year
Zacharias, bishop of Jerusalem (22 years), 3rd year
John, bishop of Alexandria (10 years), 3rd year

II In this year the Persians captured Caesarea in Cappadocia: and took
therein many tens of thousands of captives.II:

The emperor Herakleios found the affairs of the Roman state
undone, for the Avars had devastated Europe, while the Persians had
destroyed all of Asia and had captured the cities and annihilated in
battle the Roman army. On seeing these things he was at a loss what
to do. [iHe made a census of the army to find out if there were any
survivors from among those who had revolted with Phokas against
Maurice and found only two in all the themata.\\"

On 3 May of the same year, indiction 15,? a son was born to the
emperor by Eudokia, namely the younger Herakleios, also called the
new Constantine. And on 14 August of the same 15th indiction the
Augusta Eudokia died. I I°

2 Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 400, 2nd year of Herakleios, 22nd of Chosroes; Chr. ri34, 177-8;
Agapios, 190. > Repeated from p. 414 above. © Cf. Chron. Pasch. 702-3,
giving the date of the death of Eudokia as Sunday, 13 Aug. 612. For her funeral
Nik. 3.

* Caesarea was probably taken in 611: W. E. Kaegi, BZ 66 (1973), 322-3.

* iv 7raai rois de/xaai (meaning 'contingents'). The anecdote is borrowed
from Theoph. Sim. 307-8, who, naturally, does not use the technical term
thema and refers the episode to the time when Herakleios was fighting
Razates, i.e. AD 626-7. The normal length of service being about 24 years, it
is understandable that very few soldiers who had taken part in Phokas'
usurpation in 602 should still have been in the ranks in 626. See N.
Oikonomides, ZRVI 16 (1975), 2-3.

3 AD 612.

429

300

AM6iiO Chronographia

[AM 6104, AD 6LL/L2]

Herakleios, 3rd year
Chosroes, 24th year
Sergius, 4th year
Zacharias, 4th year
John, 4th year

IlIn this year, on 4 October, indiction i,’ Epiphaneia, daughter of
Herakleios, was crowned Augusta by the patriarch Sergius in the
chapel of St Stephen in the palace. On 25 December of the same 1st
indiction the young Herakleios, also called Constantine, son of
Herakleios, was crowned by the patriarch Sergius. 1°

llIn the same year the Saracens invaded Syria and, after devastating

several villages, returned home.|Il*

Cf. Chron. Pasch. 703. 3-5, 17-20, where the coronation of the younger
Herakleios is correctly dated 22 Jan. 613; Nik. 5. 1-6 (baptism and coronation of the
younger Herakleios without dates). 6 Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 401, Ist year of

Herakleios.

* AD 612.

[AM 6105, AD 612/13]

Herakleios, 4th year
Chosroes, 25th year
Sergius, 5 th year
Zacharias, 5 th year
John, 5 thyear

II In this year the Persians occupied Damascus and took a multitude of

captives.IT:
The emperor Herakleios sent ambassadors to Chosroes urging him

to cease shedding pitilessly the blood of men, to appoint levies, and
receive tribute. But the latter dismissed the ambassadors empty-
handed, without having spoken to them, for he hoped to seize the
Roman state in its entirety.’

In the same year Herakleios married Martina, whom he pro-
claimed Augusta and crowned in the Augustaion. The coronation
was performed by the patriarch Sergius.”

° Cf. Chr. j24, ri3, AG 924; Mich. Syr. ii. 400 and Chr. 1234, 178 in the 4th year of

Herakleios.
" The above passage concerning the dispatch of ambassadors may also

430

Chionographia AM 6094

derive from an Eastern source. Note, however, that according to Mich. Syr.
ii. 400; Chr. 1234, 177; Agapios, 190; and Sebeos, 65, they were sent imme-
diately after the accession of Herakleios, hence in 610/11. Cf. Dolger, Reg.
162. It may be noted that no Greek source other than Theoph. mentions this
embassy, whose historicity may be doubted. An embassy was certainly sent
in 615 (AM 6109) following the interview at Chalcedon, ostensibly on behalf
of the Senate, not the emperor. Chron. Pasch. 707-9 gives a copy of the let-
ter which the ambassadors took with them (Dolger, Reg. 166). It is stated
therein that, because of the prevailing disorder, Herakleios was unable to
send to the Persian king the customary announcement of his accession to
the throne.

* The sequence of events in Nik. 1 suggests that the marriage of
Herakleios to Martina may have occurred as late as 623 (see our comments
ad loc. 179 f.). He was certainly married to her by the spring of 624: Chron.
Pasch. 714.

[AM 6106, AD 613/14]

Herakleios, 5th year
Chosroes, 26th year
Sergius, 6thyear
Zacharias, 6thyear
John, 6thyear

II In this year the Persians took [the region of] the Jordan, Palestine,
and the Holy City by force of arms and killed many people therein
through the agency ofthe Jews: some say it was 90,000. For the Jews
bought the Christians, each man according to his means, and killed
them. As for Zacharias, patriarch of Jerusalem, and the holy and life-
giving Cross, the Persians took them along with many captives and car-
ried them off to Persia.II-

In the same year a second son called Constantine* was born to the
emperor by Martina and was' baptized in the Blachernai by the patri-
arch Sergius.

° Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 400, 5th year of Herakleios; Chr. 1234, 178, 6th year of
Herakleios, 27th of Chosroes.

* Jerusalem fell in early May 614: Strategios, 13-14. Discussion of date in
Flusin, Anastase, ii. 154 ff. Chron. Pasch. 704 dates the fall to 'about the
month of June’, which is probably when the news reached Constantinople.
Strategios, 50-3, also gives a tabulation of the dead amounting to 66,509
(somewhat different figures in the Arabic versions). Table of figures in
Flusin, Anastase, ii. 160. Sebeos, 69, has 57,000 dead.

* To distinguish him from Herakleios Constantine, b. 612. According to
Nik. ir. 7, the first two sons born of Martina, both defective, were called

431

301

AM6iiO Chronographia

Flavius (recte Fabius) and Theodosios respectively. Seeing that the 'second
Constantine’ is not recorded elsewhere, one may wonder whether Theoph.
has confused him with Heraklonas, officially styled Constantine (as shown
by his coinage), born in Lazica in 626. A difficulty, however, is posed by Nik.
18.7, who records that while Herakleios was in Persia two of his sons and
two daughters died. If one of the two sons was Fabius, who was the other?
Theodosios was still alive in 629/30, when he was married to Nike, daugh-
ter of Sahrvaraz (Nik. 17. 17). See also below, AM 6108.

[AM 6107, AD 614/15]

Herakleios, 6thyear
Chosroes, 27th year
Sergius, 7th year
Zacharias, 7th year
John, 7th year

Il In this year the Persians occupied all of Egypt and Alexandria: and
Libya as far as Ethiopia and, after taking many captives and immense
booty and money, returned home. They were unable to _ take

Chalcedon,: so they left a force to besiege it and withdrew.II
Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 401, 6th year of Herakleios,- Chr. 1234, 178, 7th year.

" According to Chr. 724, 113, Alexandria was taken in June AG 930 (AD
619). Palmer, Seventh Century, 17, argues that this text was composed in AD
640. The date 619 is very probably correct. See L. S. B. MacCoull, Studi clas-
sici e orientali, 36 (1986), 307-13; V. Deroche, Etudes sur Leontios de
Neapolis (Uppsala, 1995), ri8 n. 64.

* Chron. Pasch. 706 records Sahin's advance to Chalcedon in 614/15, but
after the mention of a liturgical innovation introduced by the patriarch
Sergios in Lent of ind. 4 (616). Cf. also Acta Anastasii Persae, c. 8, ed. Flusin,
i. 49, which adds that Sahin was obliged to withdraw from Chalcedon in
order to pursue Philippikos, who had undertaken a diversionary incursion
into Persia (presumably meaning Armenia). Discussion in Flusin, Anastase,
ii. 83 ff. It should be noted that Theoph. omits the famous interview
between Herakleios and Sahin at the harbour of Chalcedon. For this event
see Chron. Pasch. 706 ff. and Nik. 6-7.

[AM 6108, AD 615/16]

Herakleios, 7th year
Chosroes, 28th year
Sergius, 8th year
Zacharias, 8th year
John, 8thyear

Chionographia AM 6094

II In this year the Persians marched on Chalcedon and took it by war.1]™
On 1 January of this year, indiction 5,* the younger Constantine,
also called Herakleios, the son of Herakleios, assumed the consul-
ship; and he raised to the rank of Caesar his own brother, the little
Constantine, who had been born to Herakleios and Martina.

° Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 401.

* Theoph. is alone in recording under two separate years (a) an abortive
siege of Chalcedon, and (b) its capture. According to Nik. 6. 9, the siege
lasted a long time \xpovov iirl avxvov).

* Not in 617, but in the next indictional cycle (632) as shown by the let-
ter of Pope Honorius to Honorius, bishop of Canterbury, dated Imp.
Heraclio a.24, p.c. eius a. 23 (et Constantino) a.23, et cons, eius a.3, sed et
Heraclio felicissimo Caesare, i.e. filio eius, a.3, ind. 7 (634): PL 80: 477-8;

Jaffe, Reg. pont. rom., no.2020.

[AM 6109, AD 616/17]

Herakleios, 8 th year
Chosroes, 29 th year
Sergius, 9 th year
Zacharias, 9th year
John, 9th year

In this year Herakleios once again sent ambassadors’ to Persia to ask
Chosroes for peace, but Chosroes dismissed them again with the
words, 'I shall not spare you until you renounce the Crucified one,
whom you call God, and worship the sun."

" Actually in 615, following the interview with Sahin at Chalcedon. Cf.
AM 6105, N. 1.
* Perhaps a borrowing from Geo. Pisid., placed here as a filler.

[AM 6110, AD 617/18]

Herakleios, 9 th year
Chosroes, 30th year
Sergius, 10th year
Zacharias, 10th year
John, 10th year

In this year the Avars invaded Thrace and Herakleios sent ambas-
sadors to them asking for peace. When the Chagan had agreed to con-
clude peace, the emperor went outside the Long Wall with the full

433

302,

AM 6110 Chronographia

imperial retinue and many costly gifts so as to meet the Chagan after
receiving from him pledges that they would make a peace settle-
ment with one another. But the barbarian, transgressing the agree-
ments and oaths, suddenly attacked the emperor in a treacherous
manner. Discomfited by this unexpected event, the emperor took to
flight and returned to the City. As for the barbarian, he captured the
imperial baggage and retinue and as many men as he could take by
surprise (deceived as they were by the hope of peace) and returned
home after devastating many villages of Thrace.’

* Fuller accounts of the Avar surprise in Nik. 12. 28-14.10 and chron.
Pasch, 712-13. Another relevant text is the sermon by Theodore Synkellos,
In depositionem pretiosae__vestis \BHG 1058), ed. F. Combefis, Historia
haeresis — Monothelitarum (Paris, 1648) , 751- 86. Re-edited in part by
C. Loparev, vicvren 2 (1895), 592-612. For the circumstances of its deliv-
ery, see V. Vasil'evskij, vizvrem 3 (1896), 83-95. English trans, of Loparev's
edn. and commentary by A. M. Cameron, a): 49 (1979), 42-56, with incor-
rect chronology. Theoph. may have abbreviated the same source as that
used by Nik. The date of the incident in Chron. Pasch, 5 June 623, is prob-
ably correct. N. H. Baynes, az 21 (1912), 110-28, was misguided in moving
it to 617: in this he has been followed by several other scholars.

AM 6III [AD 618/19]

Year of the divine Incarnation 611

Herakleios, emperor of the Romans (31 years), 10th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (39 years), 31st year
Sergius, bishop of Constantinople (29 years), nth year
Zacharias, bishop of Jerusalem (22 years), nth year
George, bishop of Alexandria (14 years), 1st year

In this year Herakleios sent ambassadors to the Chagan of the Avars
to reproach him for the unlawful deeds he had done and urge him to
make peace; for, intending to make an expedition against Persia, he
wished to be at peace with the Chagan. Now the Chagan, out of
respect for the emperor's friendly attitude, offered his regrets and
promised to observe peace. After agreeing on the amount of the trib-
ute, the ambassadors returned in peace.

In the same year the Persians took by war Ancyra in Galatia.

" The fall of Ancyra is recorded by Mich. Syr. ii. 408; cir. 1234 180;
Agapios, 198, who place it in AH I (622/3). C. Foss, pop 31 (1977), 70,
accepts the date 622.

434

Chionographia AM 6094

[AM 6112 ,AD 619/20]

Herakleios, nth year
Chosroes, 32nd year
Sergius, 12th year
Zacharias, 12 th year
George, 2nd year

llIn this year Chosroes hardened his yoke on all men by way of blood-
thirstiness and taxation; for, being puffed up by his victory, he was no
longer able to keep the established order. Then Herakleios, becom-
ing filled with divine zeal and, as he had thought, having made peace
with the Avars, transferred the European armies to Asia and was
planning to move against Persia with God's help.

Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 408; Chr. 1234, 180 (immediately following the fall of Ancyra),
Agapios, 198.

[AM 6113, AD 620/1]

Herakleios, 12th year
Chosroes, 33rd year
Sergius, 13th year
Zacharias, 13 th year
George, 3rd year

In this year, on 4 April, indiction 10,’ the emperor Herakleios, after
celebrating the Easter feast, straight away set out against Persia on
Monday evening.” Being short of funds he took on loan the moneys
of religious establishments and he also took the candelabra and
other vessels of the holy ministry from the Great Church, which he
minted into a great quantity of gold and silver coin.” He left his own
son at Constantinople in the care of the patriarch Sergius to conduct
the business of state along with the patrician Bonosos,’ a man of pru-
dence, intelligence, and experience. He also wrote an exhortation to
the Chagan of the Avars that the latter might assist the Roman state
inasmuch as he had concluded a treaty of friendship with him, and
he named the Chagan guardian of his son. Setting out from the
Imperial City he went by ship to Pylai,* as the place is called. 1” From
there he proceeded to the country of the themata,’ where he col-
lected his armies and added new contingents to them. He began to
train them and instruct them in military deeds. He divided the army
into two and bade them draw up battle lines and attack each other
without loss of blood; he taught them the battle cry, battle songs and

435

303

304

AM 6iiO Chronographia

shouts, and how to be on the alert so that, even if they found them-
selves in a real war, they should not be frightened, but should coura-
geously move against the enemy as if it were a game. 0 Taking in his
hands the likeness of the Man-God—the one that was not painted by
hand, but which the Logos, who shapes and fashions everything,
wrought like an image without recourse to painting, just as He expe-
rienced birth without seed—the emperor placed his trust in this
image painted by God and began his endeavours II° after giving a
pledge to his army that he would struggle with them unto death and
would be united with them as with his own children,- for he wished
his authority to be derived not from fear, but rather from love.ll¢
Having found, then, the army in a state of great sluggishness, cow-
ardice, indiscipline, and disorder,! I* and scattered over many parts of
the earth, he speedily gathered everyone together.! \f As by common
agreement, everyone praised the might and courage of the emperor.
And he spoke to them these words of encouragement: 'You see, O
my brethren and children, how the enemies of God have trampled
upon our land, have laid our cities waste, have burnt our sanctuar-
iesll and have filled with the blood of murder the altars of the blood-
less sacrifice; how they defile with their impassioned pleasures our
churches, which do not admit of the passions.'II* Once again he pre-
pared the army for a warlike exercise and Ilformed two armed con-
tingents; and the trumpeters, the ranks of shield-bearers and men in
armour stood by.lI‘ When he had securely marshalled the two com-
panies he bade them attack each other: Ilthere were violent colli-
sions and mutual conflict, and a semblance of war was to be seen.
One could observe a frightening sight, yet one without the fear of
danger, murderous clashes without blood, the forms (of violence)
without violence, so that each man might draw a lesson from that
safe slaughter and remain more secure. II’ Having in this manner for-
tified everyone, he bade them abstain from injustice and cleave to
piety. 0

ut When he had reached the region of Armenia, he ordered (a band
of picked men to take the van. The Saracens were then tributaries of
the Persians,) and a multitude of their horsemen were intending to
fall upon the emperor unawares. But the emperor's advance party
met them and brought their leader captive to Herakleios;I and hav-
ing routed them, killed a great number. 1 Since winter had set in, and
the emperor had turned aside (to) the region of Pontos, the barbar-
ians decided (to besiege him) in his winter quarters. n’ Evading the
Persians, however, he turned round and invaded Persia. 1 When the
barbarians learnt of this, they were cast downll™ by the unexpected-
ness of his invasion. As for Sarbaros, the Persian commander, he

436

Chronographia AM 6120

took his forces and ucame to Cilicia that he might turn the emperor
round by his attack on Roman territory. Fearing, however, lest the
emperor invade Persia by way of Armenia and cause disturbance
therein, he could not make up his mind what to do.II" Even so, he
was compelled to follow the Roman army from behind, seeking a
chance to steal a fight and attack them ona dark night. But there was
that night a full moon and he was foiled in his scheme and uttered
imprecations against the moon whom he had previously wor-
shipped;! 1° and it so happened that the moon suffered an eclipse that
night.HP® Because of this, Sarbaros was afraid to attack the emperor
and he made for the mountains as the deer do,IK and observed from
a height the beautifully ordered generalship of the Romans.II" When
the emperor became aware of his cowardice, he boldly encamped in
places affording ample repose and provoked him to war. IF Often the
Persians would come secretly down from the mountains and engage
in sporadic conflict, and on all occasions the Romans had the upper
hand and their army was further emboldened by seeing the emperor
dashing forward in front of all the others and fighting coura-
geously.! I‘ There was a certain Persian, who a short time previously
had come as a runaway and joined the emperor's army. This man
escaped and went over to the Persians expecting them to destroy the
Roman armament. But when he had perceived their cowardice, he
returned to the emperor on the tenth day’ and reported to him
exactly the barbarians’ timidity.II"

n As for Sarbaros, he could not endure any longer his sojourn on the
mountain and was compelled to rush into battle. He divided his
army into three parts and suddenly came down at daybreak, before
the sun had risen, all ready for war. 1\" But the emperor had foreseen
this, and he, too, marshalled his army into three phalanxes and led
them into battle. When the sun had risen, the emperor happened to
be on the east side so that the sun's rays blinded the Persians—those
rays that they worshipped as a god.IK The emperor feigned that his
men had turned to flight and the Persians broke their ranks to pur-
sue them, as they thought, without restraint. But the Romans turned
round and routed them valiantly; they killed many men and others
they drove to the mountain and pushed them into precipices and
inaccessible places and destroyed all of them. And in those
precipices they remained like wild goats,ll-“ while many were cap-
tured alive. The Persian camp and all their equipment were also
taken. The Romans raised their arms aloft to give thanks to God and
to praise earnestly their emperor who had led them well. For they,
who previously had not dared to behold the Persians’ dust, now
found their tents undisturbed and looted them.Ik Who had expected

437

305

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AM6iiO Chronographia

that the hard-fighting race of the Persians would ever show their
backs to the Romans? I” As for the emperor, he left the army with its
commander to winter in Armenia, while he himself returned to
Byzantium. u*°

"Cf. Geo. Pisid. Exp, Pers. i. 132, 154. > Ibid. ii. 10. © Ibid. i. 139 ff.
4 Ibid. ii. 89—91. e Ibid. ii. 44-6. > Ibid. ii. 55-6. « Ibid. ii. 107-10.
» [bid. ii. 127 ff. " Ibid. ii. 140-8,124. ' Ibid. ii. 202. k Ibid. ii. 207
ff. " Ibid. ii. 256 ff., who, however, says it was the Persians who had wintered
in Pontos (hence in 621/2). See Oikonomides as in n. 8. ™ Ibid. ii. 276-7.
" Ibid. ii. 340 ff. ° Ibid. ii. 357 ff. P Ibid. iii. 1. ° Ibid. iii. 17-24.
' Tbid. iii. 32-3. 5 Ibid. iii. 41 ff., 63 ff. " Ibid. iii. 79 ff. "Ibid. iii.
144-74. Y Ibid. iii. 178 ff. "Ibid. iii. 201 ff. * Ibid. iii. 2ioff.,
251-2. y Ibid. iii. 278 ff. 2 Ibid. iii. 296-7. aa Tbid. iii. 336 ff., but

without a mention of Armenia.

* AD 622, when Easter indeed fell on 4 Apr.

* The first minting of the silver hexagram is dated 615 by Chron. Pasch.
706. Cf. Grierson, Catal. DO ii/i: 17-18.

3 RecteBonus, who was magisterpraesentalis. Cf. A. Pertusi, BerichteXI
Intern. Byzant.-Kongress (Munich, 1958), 26-7; PLRE iii, Bonus 5.

4 Near modern Yalova, on the southern shore of the gulf of Nicomedia.
See our discussion in TM 12 (1994), 150 ff.

> Discounting the misplaced entry under AM 6103, this is the earliest
mention of the themata (used here in a territorial sense). There has
been endless comment on this passage. For a good assessment see
N. Oikonomides, ZRVN6 (1975), 1 ff., who argues that the use of the term
themata here is not anachronistic, as some scholars have suggested. It is not
clear which part of Asia Minor is meant.

° A total eclipse of the moon occurred on 28 July 622.

7 Geo. Pisid. Exp. Pers. iii. 150 has the deserter going back to the Persians
after fourteen days.

5 On the campaign of 622 see N. H. Baynes, EHR 19 (1904), 694-702; N.
Oikonomides, BMGS 1 (1975), 1-9; Howard-Johnston, 'The Official
History’, 60 and n. 7.

AM 6114 [AD 621/2]

Year of the divine Incarnation 614

Herakleios, emperor of the Romans (31 years), 13th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (39 years), 35 th year’
Sergius, bishop of Constantinople (29 years), r4th year
Zacharias, bishop of Jerusalem (22 years), 14th year
George, bishop of Alexandria (14 years), 4th year

In this year, on 15 March, indiction II,* the emperor Herakleios set
out from the Imperial City and speedily arrived in Armenia.’ As for

438

Chronographia AM 6120

Chosroes, the emperor of the Persians, he dispatched Sarbarazas,
with his own army, to invade Roman territory. Herakleios wrote a
letter to Chosroes bidding him embrace peace- if not, he would
invade Persia with his army.* But Chosroes neither embraced peace
nor did he take any account of the statement that Herakleios would
dare approach Persia. And on 20 April the emperor invaded Persia.
When Chosroes learnt of this, he ordered Sarbarazas to turn back;
and having gathered his armies from all of Persia, he entrusted them
to Sain, whom he commanded to join Sarbarazas with all speed and
so proceed against the emperor. As for Herakleios, he called together
his troops and roused them with these words of exhortation: u'Men,
my brethren, let us keep in mind the fear of God and fight to avenge
the insult done to God. Let us stand bravely against the enemy who
have inflicted many terrible things on the Christians. Let us respect
the sovereign state of the Romans and oppose the enemy who are
armed with impiety. Let us be inspired with faith that defeats mur-
der. Let us be mindful of the fact that we are within the Persian land
and that flight carries a great danger. Let us avenge the rape of our
virgins and be afflicted in our hearts as we see the severed limbs of
our soldiers.I\** The danger is not without recompense: nay, it leads
to the eternal life. Let us stand bravely, and the Lord our God will
assist us and destroy the enemy.’

When the emperor had spoken these and many other words of
exhortation, they replied Hone and all: 'Thou hast expanded our
hearts, O Sire, by opening thy lips to encourage us. Thy words have
sharpened our swords and imbued them with life. Thou hast given
us wing by thy statements. We blush to see thee leading us in battle,
and we follow thy commands.'II*

So the emperor took up his army and straight away made for the
heart of Persia, burning the towns and villages. And there happened
at this stage an awesome miracle. For at the time of the summer sol-
stice the air became cool and refreshed the Roman army so that they
became filled with fair hopes. And when Herakleios heard that
Chosroes was in the town of Gazakos° with 40,000 fighting men, he
rushed against him. He sent forward some of his subject Saracens as
an advance party and they encountered the watch of Chosroes, some
of whom they killed, whilst others they captured and brought to the
emperor together with their commander. When he had learnt of this,
Chosroes abandoned the town and his army and took to flight.
Herakleios gave pursuit, and some he overtook and killed, whilst the
rest escaped and scattered. And when the emperor reached the town
of Gazakos, (he restored his army in its suburbs. The Persians who
had taken refuge with him said that Chosroes had destroyed with

439

307

308

AM6iiO Chronographia

fire all the crops in those parts and had fled to the town of
Thebarmais)’ in the east, wherein were the temple of Fire and the
treasure of Croesus, king of Lydia, and lithe deceit of the coals. 1%

Setting out from Gazakos, the emperor reached Thebarmais, which
he entered and burnt down the temple of Fire as well as the entire
city; and he pursued Chosroes in the defiles of the land of the Medes.

Chosroes went from place to place in this difficult terrain, whilst
Herakleios, as he was pursuing him, captured many towns and
lands. When winter had set in, he took counsel to decide where he
should winter together with his army. Some said that they should do
so in Albania,? nothers that they should push ahead against

Chosroes himself.I\? The emperor ordered that the army should
purify itself for three days. He then opened the holy Gospel and
found a passage that directed him to winter in Albania. So he imme-
diately turned back and hastened to Albania. As he had with him
numerous Persian captives, he was the object of several attacks by
the Persian troops on the intervening journey, but with God's help,
was victorious against all of them. In spite of the severe winter cold
that overtook him on the way, he reached Albania with 50,000 cap-
tives whom, in his compassionate heart, he pitied and liberated. He
granted them proper care and repose so that all of them prayed with

tears in their eyes that I Ihe should become the saviour even of Persia
and slay Chosroes, the destroyer of the world.II*

"Geo. Pisid. Her. iii, frg. 3. ‘ Ibid., frg. 4. © Ibid., frg. 4a.
4 Tbid., frg. 4/3. ® Ibid., frg. 4y.

" Note the jump from his 33rd to his 35 th year.

> This corresponds to ap 623. Chron. Pasch. 713-14 dates the emperor's
departure from Constantinople to 25 Mar., ind. 12 (AD 624) and says that he
celebrated Easter near Nicomedia before proceeding to the East. A slight dif-
ficulty is that whereas in 623 Easter fell on 27 Mar., it did so on 15 Apr. in
624. For a summary of scholarly debate on this question see Stratos ii.
883-91, who rightly opts for 624. We cannot give here a detailed commen-
tary on the campaigns of 624-8 for which Theoph. is our principal, if at
times faulty, source. For the many problems of chronology, topography, and
interpretation the reader is referred to E. Gerland, BZ 3 (1894), 330-73; N.
H. Baynes, United Service Magazine, 47 (1913), 401-12, 665-79; I- A.
Manandjan, VizVrem 3 (1950), 133-53; Stratos, i—i; J. Howard-Johnston,
‘The Official History’.

3 It remains unclear why Theoph. should have omitted Herakleios'
march through Armenia, including the capture of Dvin, the more so as the
latter event is alluded to by Geo. Pisid. in Her. ii. i63.Fora discussion of the
emperor's route, mainly on the basis of Armenian sources, see Manandjan,
op. cit.

440

Chronographia AM 6120

* Dolger, Reg. 179. Cf. Stratos i. 377-80.

> This speech is plagiarized in Theoph. Cont. 478, where, with a few
changes, it is put in the mouth of Nikephoros Phokas. Cf. A. Kolia-
Dermitzaki, V fivt‘avTivos lepos voXeixos (Athens, 1991), 249.

° Ganjak, Armenian Ganzak (Kanzakon in Theoph. Sim.), corresponding
to Leylan, south-east of Lake Urmia. See Markwart, Provincial Capitals,
ro8-ro, Mmorsky, 'Atropatene’, 254.

7 Now Takht-i Sulaiman (Shiz): Minorsky, Atropatene’, 255.

= Referring, it seems, to the fiction that the sacred fire left no ashes:
Minorsky, loc. cit.

° From Armenian Aluank' a district south-east of the Caucasus moun-
tain range.

[AM 6115, AD 622/3]

Herakleios, 14th year
Chosroes, 36th year
Sergius, 15 th year
Zacharias, 15th year
George, 5th year

In this year Chosroes, emperor of the Persians, appointed as his com-
mander Sarablangas,’ an energetic man filled with great vanity,- and
having entrusted him with the contingents of the so-called
Chosroegetai and Perozitai, sent him against Herakleios in Albania.
They pushed ahead to the boundaries of Albania, but did not dare
confront the emperor in battle; instead, they seized the passes that
led to Persia in the belief that they would trap him. At the beginning
of spring Herakleios set out from Albania and made his way towards
Persia through level plains that provided an abundance of food, even
if, by this lengthy detour, he was covering a great distance.
Sarablangas, on the other hand, pushed ahead by the narrow and
shorter way so as to anticipate him in Persian territory.

Herakleios exhorted his army with these words: 'Let us be aware,
O brethren, that lithe Persian army, as it wanders through difficult
country, II* is exhausting and debilitating its horses. As for us, let us
hasten with all speed against Chosroes so that, falling upon him
unexpectedly, we may throw him into confusion.’ The troops, how-
ever, opposed this course, especially the Laz, Abasgian, and Iberian
allies. For this reason they fell into misfortune. For Sarbarazas, too,
had arrived with his troops, whom Chosroes had armed mightily and
sent against Herakleios by way of Armenia. As for Sarablangas, he
was following Herakleios from behind and did not engage him,
expecting, as he did, to join Sarbarazas and then give battle. When

441

309

311

AM6iiO Chronographia

the Romans had been apprised of the onset of Sarbarazas, they were
seized by timidity and fell at the emperor's feet, repenting with tears
of their misguided disobedience,- for they knew how great an evil it
is when a servant does not yield to his master's wishes. And they
said: 'Stretch out your hand, O lord, before we miserable ones perish.
We obey you in whatever you command.’ Then the emperor has-
tened to engage Sarablangas before the latter had been joined by the
army of Sarbarazas and, having made many sorties against him both
by night and by day, reduced him to a state of timidity. Leaving both
of them in his rear, he pushed on with all speed against Chosroes.
Now two Romans deserted to the Persians and persuaded them that
the Romans were fleeing out of cowardice. Another rumour had also
reached them, namely that Sain, the Persian commander, was com-
ing to their help with another army. When Sarablangas and
Sarbarazas learnt this, they strove to engage Herakleios in battle
before Sain had arrived and transferred to himself the glory of vic-
tory. Trusting also the deserters, they moved aginst Herakleios and,
when they drew near to him, encamped, intending to engage him in
the morning. But Herakleios set out in the evening and marched all
night; and when he had gone a long distance from them, he found a
grassy plain and encamped in it. The barbarians, thinking that he
was fleeing out of cowardice, pushed on in a disorderly manner so as
to overtake him. But he met them and gave battle. He occupied a cer-
tain wooded hill and, gathering there his army, routed the barbarians
with God's help and slew a multitude of them after pursuing them
through the ravines. (Sarablangas fell, too, struck with a sword in his
back.)* As these struggles were going on, Sain also arrived with his
army, and the emperor routed him and slew many of his men, whilst
the rest he scattered as they were fleeing; and he captured their camp
equipment. Sarbarazas then joined forces with Sain and gathered
together the barbarians who had survived. And, once again, they
made plans to move against Herakleios. As for the emperor, he
pushed on to the land of the Huns,’ through the rough and inacces-
sible places of their difficult country, while the barbarians followed
him from behind. Now the Lazi and the Abasgians took fright; they
broke their alliance with the Romans and returned to their own
country. Sain was pleased at this and, together with Sarbaros, eagerly
pressed on against Herakleios. The emperor gathered his troops and
gave them courage by assuaging them with these words of exhorta-
tion: u'Be not disturbed, O brethren, by the multitude (of the
enemy). For when God wills it, one man will rout a thousand. 1 So
let us sacrifice ourselves to God for the salvation of our brothers.

liMay we win the crown of martyrdom so that we may be praised in

442

Chionographia AM 6094

the futurell® and receive our recompense from God.’ Having with
these and many other words encouraged the army, he arranged the
battle order with joyful countenance. The two sides faced each other
across a short distance from morning until evening, but did not
engage. When evening had fallen, the emperor continued his march;
and again the barbarians pressed on behind him. Wishing to overtake
him, they took another route, but fell into marshy ground, went
astray, and experienced great danger. So the emperor crossed over
and went by the regions of Persarmenia. That country being under
Persian control, many men joined Sarbarazas and so increased his
army. And when it was winter, the multitude dispersed in their own
lands so as to take rest (in their houses). When Herakleios learnt of
this, he decided 1 to steal a battle by night. I The winter, then, hav-
ing set in, and Sarbaros not suspecting anything, he selected the
strongest horses and the bravest soldiers and divided them into two.
The first part he ordered to move ahead against Sarbaros, whilst he
himself followed behind with the rest. So they hastened through the
night and reached the village Salbanon‘ at the ninth hour of the
night. The Persians who were there became aware of the attack: they
rose up and rushed to resist, but the Romans slew all of them, except
one who brought the news to Sarbaros. Rising up and mounting his
horse, naked and unshod as he was, Sarbaros found his salvation in
flight. His wives and the flower of the Persians, that is the com-
manders, satraps, and picked soldiers, were apprehended as they had
climbed to the roofs of their houses and were preparing to fight.
Herakleios brought them down by means of fire, and some he slew,
others he burnt, whilst others were bound in fetters, so that nearly
no one escaped except for Sarbaros. They took the arms of Sarbaros,
namely his golden shield, his sword, lance, gold belt set with pre-
cious stones, and boots. When Herakleios had taken these things, he
moved against the Persians who were scattered in the villages. These
men, on learning of the flight of Sarbaros, also fled without restraint.
He pursued them, killed or captured many of them, whilst the
remainder returned to Persia in disgrace. As for the emperor, he joy-
fully collected his army and wintered in those parts.

° Geo. Pisid. wer. iii, frg. 5. > Ibid., frg. 6a-/3. <= Ibid., frg. 6y.
4 Ibid., frg. 9.

loo

The Panther of the Realm’. His identity is discussed by C. J. F. Dowsett,
Byz 21 (19 S1), 311-21 and his trans, of Movses, 81 n. 1. For the campaign of
625, which is very difficult to follow, see Stratos, 1. 405 ff.

* This does not necessarily mean that he was killed. In Movses, 85 he
turns up to relieve Tiflis (in 627).

443

312

3/3

AM6iiO Chronographia

3 According to Manandjan, VizViem 3 (1950), i4t, this should be cor-
rected to Siunians ;zvwwew. Cf. also Kulakovskij, Istorija, iii. 343-4.

* This locality should be sought north of Lake Van and appears to corre-
spond to Ali in Sebeos, 82-3. Cf. Manandjan, op. cit. 143-4.

AM 6116 [AD 623/4]

Year of the divine Incarnation 616

Herakleios, emperor of the Romans (31 years), 15 th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (39 years), 37th year
Sergius, bishop of Constantinople (29 years), 16th year
Zacharias, bishop of Jerusalem (22 years), 16th year
George, bishop of Alexandria (14 years), 6th year

In this year, on 1 March,’ the emperor Herakleios collected his army
and took counsel as to which road he should follow: for two roads lay
before him, both narrow and difficult, one leading to Taranton,* the
other to the land of Syria. And whereas the one to Taranton was
superior, it lacked every kind of food supply, whereas the one to
Syria that went over the Tauros provided a plentiful abundance of
food. Everyone gave preference to the latter, even though it was
steeper and covered with much snow. So, after traversing it with
great toil, they reached in seven days the river Tigris,*? which they
crossed and arrived at Martyropolis and Amida. The army and the
captives rested there. From there the emperor was able to send let-
ters to Byzantium in which he described all his actions, thus caus-
ing great joy in the City. As for Sarbaros, he collected his scattered
army and went after him. The emperor picked a band of soldiers and
sent them to guard the passes leading to his position; and usallying
forth to the eastward passages, he moved to confrontl I" Sarbaros. He
crossed the Nymphios river* and reached the Euphrates,’? where
there was a pontoon bridge made of rope and boats. Sarbaros untied
the ropes from one shore and shifted the whole bridge to the other.
When the emperor came and was unable to cross by the bridge, he
went by and found a ford which he safely traversed—an unexpected
feat in the month of March—and so reached Samosata. Once again
he went over the Tauros and arrived at Germanikeia;° and, going by
Adana,’ he came to the river Saros. Now Sarbaros stretched the
bridge back to its former place and, crossing the Euphrates without
hindrance, followed him from behind. The emperor crossed the
bridge of the Saros® and, finding a place to rest his army and horses,
encamped there. Sarbaros, in the meantime, reached the opposite
bank. He found the bridge and its forward bastions occupied by the

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Romans, so he encamped. Now many of the Romans made disor-
derly sorties across the bridge and attacked the Persians, among
whom they caused much slaughter. The emperor forbade them to
sally forth indiscriminately lest the enemy found a means of enter-
ing the bridge and crossing it at the same time they did, but the army
did not obey the emperor. Now Sarbaros set up ambuscades and,
feigning flight, drew many of the Romans to cross over in pursuit
against the emperor's wish. He then turned round and routed them,
and killed as many as he overtook outside the bridge—a punishment
of their disobedience. When the emperor saw that the barbarians had
broken ranks in pursuit and that many of the Romans who were
standing upon the bastions were being slain, he moved against them.
A giant of a man confronted the emperor in the middle of the bridge
and attacked him, but the emperor struck him and threw him into
the river. When this man had fallen, the barbarians turned to flight
Hand, because of the narrowness of the bridge, jumped into the river
like frogs, un” whilst others were being killed by the sword. But the
bulk of the barbarians poured over the river bank: they shot arrows
and resisted the passage of the Romans. The emperor did cross to the
other side and bravely opposed the barbarians with a few men of his
guard. He fought in a superhuman manner so that even Sarbaros was
astonished and said (to) one Kosmas (a runaway Roman and an apos-
tate) who was standing close to him: 'Do you see, O Kosmas, I Ihow
boldly the Caesar stands in battle, how he fights alone against such
a multitude and wards off blows like an anvil? 'I I For he was recog-
nized by his purple boots, and received many blows, although none
(of a serious nature in this battle. And after they had fought this bat-
tle all day,) when evening came, they drew apart. Sarbaros became
frightened and retreated in the night. As for the emperor, he col-
lected his army and hastened to the city of Sebasteia. After crossing
the river Halys,’ he spent the whole winter in that land.”

Chosroes in his rage sent emissaries to confiscate the treasure of
all the churches that were under Persian rule. And he forced the
Christians to convert to the religion of Nestorios so as to wound the
emperor.

"Mamed, leader of the Arabs, 9 years.’
"Geo. Pisid. Her. iii, frg. 14. > Ibid., frg. 18. © Ibid., frg. 19.

* Presumably AD 626. The day of the month may have been drawn from
the dispatch mentioned below. The geographical indications given in this
entry are extremely confusing: see Stratos, i. 436 ff., ii. goo ff.

* Taranta or Dalanda (modern Darende), west of Melitene (Malatya). For
the site see Sinclair, Eastern Turkey, ii. 499 ff.

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AM6iiO Chronographia

3 It is difficult to see how Herakleios, if he was coming from the area of
Lake Van, would have crossed the Tigris before reaching Martyropolis
(Silvan).

* Modern Batman Su, east of Martyropolis.

> If correct, this implies a westward retreat from a point in Arzanene,
east of the Nymphios.

® The Tauros does not lie between Samosata and Germanikeia (Mara8).

7 Ramsay, Geogi. 311, wishes to correct Adana to Adata (between
Melitene and Germanikeia). Cf. J. G. C. Anderson, JHS 17 (1897), 33-4.

® It is usually assumed that the encounter took place at the great Roman
bridge over the Saros at Adana, on which see Prok. Aed. v. 5.8.

° Sebasteia (Sivas) lies north of the Halys, which Herakleios would have
had to cross in the first instance.

*° This indication appears incorrect. If Herakleios remained on the move
starting 1 Mar. 626, he may have reached Sebasteia by late April, at least six
months before winter. Besides, the siege of Constantinople, related under AM
6117, is securely dated to June-Aug. 626. The mistake maybe due to the fact
that Theoph. started the offensive against Persia one year too early (in 623)
and so had extra time to fill.

[AM 6117, AD 624/5]

Herakleios, 16th year
Chosroes, 38 th year
Sergius, 17th year
Zacharias, 17th year
George, 7th year

In this year Chosroes, emperor of Persia, made a new levy by con-
scripting strangers, citizens, and slaves whom he selected from
every nation. He placed this picked body under the command of Sain
and gave him, in addition, another 50,000 men chosen from the pha-
lanx of Sarbaros. He called them the Golden Spearmen and sent
them against the emperor. As for Sarbaros, he dispatched him with
his remaining army against Constantinople’ with a view to estab-
lishing an alliance between the western Huns (who are called Avars)
and the Bulgars, Slavs, and Gepids, and so advancing on the City and
laying siege to it. When the emperor learnt of this, he divided his
army into three contingents: the first he sent to protect the City.*
the second he entrusted to his own brother Theodore, whom he
ordered to fight Sain,- the third part he took himself and advanced to
Lazica. During his stay there he invited the eastern Turks, who are
called Chazars, to become his allies. Now Sain with his newly
recruited army overtook the emperor's brother and prepared for bat-
tle. With God's help (by the mediation of the all-praised Theotokos),

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Chronographia AM 6120

when battle was joined a storm of hail fell unexpectedly on the bar-
barians and struck down many of them, whereas the Roman array
enjoyed fair weather. So the Romans routed the Persians and slew a
great multitude of them.? When Chosroes learnt of this, he was
angered at Sain. And Sain, because of his great despondency fell ill
and died. By order of Chosroes his body was preserved in salt and
conveyed to him. and, though it was dead, he subjected it to ill-
treatment.

Now the Chazars broke through the Caspian Gates and invaded
Persia, that is the land of Adraigan,* under their commander Ziebel?
who was second in rank after the Chagan. And in all the lands they
traversed they made the Persians captive and burnt the towns and
villages. The emperor, too, set out from Lazica and joined them.
When Ziebel saw him, he rushed to meet him, kissed his neck, and
did obeisance to him, while the Persians were looking on from the
town of Tiphilios.° And the entire army of the Turks fell flat on the
ground and, stretched out on their faces, reverenced the emperor
with an honour that is unknown among alien nations. Likewise,
their commanders climbed on rocks and fell flat in the same man-
ner. Ziebel also brought before the emperor his adolescent son, and
he took as much pleasure in the emperor's conversation as he was
astonished by his appearance and wisdom. After picking 40,000
brave men, Ziebel gave them to the emperor as allies, while he him-
self returned to his own land. Taking these men along, the emperor
advanced on Chosroes.

As for Sarbaros, he attacked Chalcedon, while the Avars
approached the City by way of Thrace with a view to capturing it.
They set in motion many engines against it and filled the gulf of the
Horn with an immense multitude, beyond all number, whom they
had brought from the Danube in carved boats. After investing the
City by land and sea for ten days, they were vanquished by God's
might and help and by the intercession of the immaculate Virgin,
the Mother of God. Having lost great numbers, both on land and on
sea, they shamefully returned to their country.’ Sarbaros, however,
who was besieging Chalcedon, did not depart, but wintered there,®
laying waste and pillaging the regions and towns across the strait.

" Sahrvaraz reached Chalcedon several days before 29 June 626: Chron.
Pasch. 716.

* The dispatch of a contingent to Constantinople is confirmed by Geo.
Pisid. Bell. avar. 280-3.

3 Neither the place nor exact date of the battle is known. The army com-
manded by the emperor's brother appears to have reached the Asiatic side of

the Bosporus by Aug. 626: Chron. Pasch. 726.
447

316

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AM6IiO Chronographia

* According to de Boor, Theoph. may have originally written Adrabigan
(Azerbaijan). For the Chazar invasion see Movses, 8r ff. and Artamonov,
Istorija, 145 ff.

> His title was Jabgu- (or Djebu-) khagan and he was accompanied by his
son, styled Sad: Movses, 83, 87-8.

®° Tiflis (Tbilisi). For the siege see Movses, 85-6. Cf. Toumanoff, Studies,
39r. A romantic version of the meeting of Herakleios with 'the lord of the
Turks’ in Nik. 12. 18 ff.

7 This account of the siege of Constantinople is remarkably short. For the
events see esp. F. Barisic, Byz 24 (1954), 37r~95 and now J. Howard-Johnston,
'The siege of Constantinople in 626', in C. Mango and G. Dagron, eds.,
Constantinople and its Hinterland, (Aldershot, 1995), 131-42. Our main
sources are: Chron. Pasch. 716 ff., a contemporary account interrupted by a
large lacuna at 724. 9; Geo. Pisid. Bell, avar., on which see P. Speck,
Zufalliges zum Bellum Avaricum des Georgios Pisides, MBM 24 (Munich,
1984); the homily of Theodore Synkellos, probably of 627, ed. L. Sternbach,
Analecta avarica, Rozprawy Akad. Umijgtnasci, Wydz. filol., ser. II/15
(Cracow, rgoo), 298-320.

® According to Theodore Synkellos, 313. 22, Sahrvaraz left Chalcedon a
few days after the failure of the Avar attack, which appears more likely. He
is said to have gone to Alexandria: Sebeos, 88.

AM 6118 [AD 625/6]

Year of the divine Incarnation 618

Herakleios, emperor of the Romans (31 years), 17th year
Chosroes, emperor of the Persians (39 years), 39th year
Sergius, bishop of Constantinople (29 years), 18th year
Zacharias, bishop of Jerusalem (22 years), 18th year
George, bishop of Alexandria (14 years), 8th year

In this year the emperor Herakleios, by invading Persia together
with the Turks starting in the month of September’—an unexpected
move, since it was winter—threw Chosroes into a state of distrac-
tion when the news had reached him. But the Turks, in view of the
winter and the constant attacks of the Persians, could not bear to toil
together with the emperor and started, little by little, to slip away
until all of them had left and returned home. Now the emperor
addressed his troops, saying: 'Know, O brothers, that no one wishes
to fight with us, except God and His 1 iMother who bore Him with-
out seed,lI* and this that He may show His might, (since salvation
does not lie in the abundance of soldiers and weapons, but to those
who trust in His mercy) He sends down His aid.'

As for Chosroes, he collected all his armies and appointed
Razates’ commander over them, a most warlike and brave man,

448

Chionographia AM 6094

whom he sent against Herakleios. The emperor meanwhile was
burning the towns and villages of Persia and putting to the sword the
Persians he captured. On 9 October of the 15 th indiction he reached
the land of Chamaetha,? where he rested his army for one week. As
for Razates, he came to Gazakos, in the emperor's rear, and followed
him, while the Romans, in front, were destroying the crops.
liTrailing behind, like a hungry dog, un” he fed with difficulty on the
emperor's crumbs. On 1 December the emperor reached the Great
Zabas river, which he crossed and encamped near the town of
Nineveh. Following him, Razates, too, came to the ford and, going
another three miles downstream, found another ford which he
crossed. The emperor sent out the commander Baanes with a small
body of picked soldiers; the latter encountered a company of
Persians and, after killing their captain, brought back his head and
his sword, which was all of gold. He killed many more and made
twenty-six captive, among whom was the sword-bearer of Razates.
This man announced to the emperor that Razates was intending to
give battle on orders from Chosroes, who had sent him 3,000 armed
men, but these had not yet arrived. When the emperor had been
informed of this, he sent ahead his camp equipment and himself fol-
lowed, seeking a place in which to give battle before the 3,000 had
joined the enemy. And when he had found a plain suitable for fight-
ing, he addressed his troops and drew them up in battle order. Upon
arriving there, Razates also drew up his army in three dense forma-
tions and advanced on the emperor. Battle was given on Saturday, 12
December.* The emperor sallied forward in front of everyone and
met the commander of the Persians, and, by God's might and the
help of the Theotokos, threw him down; and those who had sallied
forth with him were routed. Then the emperor met another Persian
in combat and cast him down also. Yet a third assailed him and
struck him with a spear, wounding his lip; but the emperor slew
him, too. And when the trumpets had sounded, the two sides
attacked each other and, as a violent battle was being waged, the
emperor's tawny horse called Dorkon,’ was wounded in the thigh by
some infantryman who struck it with a spear. It also received several
blows of the sword on the face, but, wearing as it did a cataphract
made of sinew, it was not hurt, nor were the blows effective. Razates
fell in battle, as did the three divisional commanders of the Persians,
nearly all of their officers, and the greater part of their army. As for
the Romans, fifty were killed and a considerable number wounded,
but they did not die, save for another ten. That battle was waged
from morning until the nth hour. The Romans captured twenty-
eight standards of the Persians, not counting those that had been

449

318

319

320

AM 6 iO Chronographia

broken, and, having despoiled the dead, took their corselets, hel-
mets, and all their arms. And the two sides remained at a distance of
two bowshots from one another, for there was no retreat. The
Roman soldiers watered their horses at night and fed them. But the
Persian horsemen stood until the 7 th hour of the night over the bod-
ies of their dead; and at the 8th hour of the night they set forth and
returned to their camp. and taking it up, they went away and
encamped in fear at the foot of a rugged mountain. The Romans took
many gold swords and gold belts set with pearls, and the shield of
Razates, which was all of gold and had 120 laminae, and his gold
breastplate; and they brought in his caftan together with his head,
and his bracelets and his gold saddle. And Barsamouses,° the prince
of the Iberians who are subject to Persia, was taken alive. (No one
can remember such a battle being waged between Persians) and
Romans inasmuch as it did not cease all day; and if the Romans won,
they did so only by God's help.”

After encouraging his army, the emperor pushed on against
Chosroes with a view to frightening him and making him recall
Sarbaros from Byzantium [from Chalcedon].* On 21 December the
emperor was informed that the army of Razates—as much of it as
had escaped from the battle—had been joined by the 3,000 men dis-
patched by Chosroes and had reached Nineveh in pursuit of him.
After crossing the Great Zabas, the emperor (dispatched the tur-
march George with 1,000 men to ride forward and seize the bridges
of the Lesser Zabas) before Chosroes had become aware of it. After
riding forty-eight miles, George seized the four bridges of the Lesser
Zabas in the night? and captured the Persians he found in the forts.
On 23 December the emperor reached the bridges, crossed them, and
encamped in the mansions of Iesdem;”* he rested both his army and
his horses and celebrated the feast of Christ's Nativity in that place.
When Chosroes was informed that the Romans had seized the
bridges of the Lesser Zabas, he sent a message to the army that had
been under Razates that they should try very hard to overtake the
emperor so as to join him. Making haste, they crossed the Lesser
Zabas in another place and overtook the emperor, in front of whom
they now marched. As for the emperor, he came upon (a palace
called Dezeridan”, which he destroyed and burnt, while the
Persians crossed the bridge of the river Tornas’ and encamped
there. The emperor came upon) a second palace of Chosroes called
Rousa® and this, too, he destroyed. He suspected that the enemy
were going to fight him at the bridge of the river Tornas; but when
they saw him, they abandoned the bridge and fled. So the emperor
crossed without hindrance and reached another palace called

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Chronographia AM 6120

Beklal;'* here a hippodrome had been built, and he destroyed it.
Several of the Armenians who accompanied the Persians came to the
emperor (at night) and said: 'Chosroes with his elephants and his
own army is encamped five miles on this side of the palace called
Dastagerd,” in a place called Barasroth,”° and he has given instruc-
tions that his forces should assemble there and fight you. There is a
river there that is difficult to cross, and a narrow bridge, and many
cramped spaces between buildings, and fetid streams.’ After taking
counsel with his officers and his army, the emperor remained in the
palace of Beklal. He found therein in one enclosure 300 corn-fed
ostriches, and in another about 500 corn-fed gazelles, and in another
100 corn-fed wild asses, and all of these he gave to his soldiers. And
they celebrated 1 January there. They also found sheep, pigs, and
oxen without number, and the whole army rested contentedly and
gave glory to God. They caught the herdsmen of these cattle
and were exactly informed by them that Chosroes had learnt on
23 December that the emperor had crossed the bridge of the Tornas’””
and forthwith set out from the palace of Dastagerd (making all speed
for Ctesiphon, and all the money he had in the palace he loaded on
the elephants, camels, and mules that were in his service, and he
wrote to the army of Razates that they should enter that same palace
and the houses of the noblemen and take away anything they found
therein. So the emperor sent one half of his army to Dastagerd),
while he himself went by a different road to another palace called
Bebdarch.”® This, too, they destroyed and burnt, and they thanked
God for having wrought such wonders by the intercession of the
Theotokos. IlFor who had expected that Chosroes would fleell‘
before the Roman emperor from his palace at Dastagerd and go off to
Ctesiphon, when, for twenty-four years, he would not suffer to
behold Ctesiphon, but had his royal residence at Dastagerd? In his
palace of Dastagerd the Roman army found 300 Roman standards
which the Persians had captured at different times. They also found
the goods that had been left behind, namely a great quantity of aloes
and big pieces of aloes wood, each weighing 70 or 80 Ibs., much silk
and pepper, more linen shirts than one could count, sugar, ginger,
and many other goods. Others found silver, silken garments,
woollen rugs, and woven carpets—a great quantity of them and very
beautiful, but on account of their weight they burnt them all. They
also burnt the tents of Chosroes and the porticoes he set up when-
ever he encamped in a plain, and many of his statues. They also
found in this palace an infinite number of ostriches, gazelles, wild
asses, peacocks, and pheasant, and in the hunting park huge live
lions and tigers. Many of the captives from Edessa, Alexandria, and

451

321

322

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AM6iiO Chronographia

other cities—a great throng of them—sought refuge with the
emperor. The emperor celebrated at Dastagerd the feast of the
Epiphany; he gladdened and restored his army while he destroyed
the palaces of Chosroes. These priceless, wonderful and astonishing
structures he demolished to the ground so that Chosroes might learn
how great a pain the Romans had suffered when their cities were laid
waste and burnt by him. Many of the palace diaitarii were also
arrested and, on being interrogated as to when Chosroes had
departed from Dastagerd, they said: 'Nine days before your arrival he
heard of your presence and secretly made a hole in the city wall near
the palace. In this way he went out unhindered through the gardens,
he with his wife and children, so there should not be a tumult in the
city.’ Indeed, neither his army was aware of it nor his noblemen
until he had gone five miles; at which point he announced that they
should follow him in the direction of Ctesiphon. And this man who
was incapable of travelling five miles in one day, travelled twenty-
five in his flight His wives and children, who previously had not laid
eyes on one another, now fled in disorder, one jostling the other.
When night had fallen, Chosroes took shelter in the house of an
insignificant farmer whose door barely let him through. When, later,
Herakleios saw that door, he was amazed. In three days Chosroes
reached Ctesiphon. Twenty-four years earlier, when he besieged
Daras in the days of the Roman emperor Phokas,” he had been given
an oracle by his magicians and astrologers, namely that he would
perish at the time he went to Ctesiphon; and although he would not
suffer to go one mile in that direction from Dastagerd, he now went
to Ctesiphon as he fled. But even there he did not dare stop; nay, he
crossed the pontoon bridge over the river Tigris to the town on the
other side, which is called Seleukeia by the Romans and
Gouedeser*® by the Persians. He deposited all his money there and
remained there with his wife Seirem and three other women who
were his daughters. His remaining wives and his many children he
sent to a stronghold forty miles to the east.

IINow some Persians spoke slanderously to Chosroes concerning
Sarbaros, namely that the latter was on the side of the Romans and
railed at him. So he sent one of his sword-bearers to Chalcedon with
an order to Kardarigas, Sarbaros' fellow-commander, in which he
wrote that Kardarigas should kill Sarbaros and, taking along the
Persian army, hasten to Persia to assist him. But the messenger who
carried the letter was apprehended by the Romans in the area of
Galatia. His captors, eluding the Persians, brought him to Byzantium
and handed him over to the emperor's son.::' When the young

emperor had ascertained the truth from the courier, he straight away

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Chronographia AM 6120

sent for Sarbaros, who came into the emperor's presence. The
emperor handed him the letter addressed to Kardarigas and showed
him the messenger. Sarbaros read the letter and, being satisfied of its
truth, immediately changed sides and made a covenant with the
emperor's son and the patriarch. He falsified Chosroes' letter by insert-
ing in it the instruction that, along with himself, another four hundred
satraps, commanders, tribunes, and centurions should be killed, and
he cunningly replaced the seal on it. He then convened his comman-
ders and Kardarigas himself and, after reading the letter, said to
Kardarigas: 'Are you resolved to do this?' The commanders were filled
with anger and renounced Chosroes, and they made a peaceful set-
tlement with the emperor. After taking common counsel, they decided
to depart from Chalcedon and return home without causing any dam-
age.Il:=

Now Herakleios wrote to Chosroes: II'l am pursuing you as I has-
ten towards peace. For it is not of my free will that I am-burning
Persia, but constrained by you. Let us, therefore, throw down our
arms even now and embrace peace. Let us extinguish the fire before
it consumes everything.'I 1° But Chosroes did not accept these pro-
posals, and so the hatred of the Persian people grew against him. He
conscripted all the retainers of his noblemen and all his servants and
those of his wives and, having armed them, sent them to join the
army of Razates and take a stand on the river Narbas,”? twelve miles
from Ctesiphon. He commanded them that when the emperor had
crossed the river, they should cut the pontoon bridge. As for the
emperor, he set out from Dastagerd on 7 January and, after marching
three days, encamped twelve miles from the river Narbas, where the
Persian camp lay and where they had 200 elephants. The emperor
sent George, turmarch of the Armeniacs,™ as far as the river to
ascertain whether the Narbas had a ford. And when he had found
that they had cut the bridges and that the Narbas had no ford, he
returned to the emperor. Setting forth, the emperor came to
Siazouros” and, for the whole of the month of February, he went
about burning the villages and the towns. In the month of March he
came to a village called Barzan,” where he spent seven days,- and he
dispatched the commander Mezezios” on a foray. A certain
Goundabousan,”* who was captain of a thousand men in the army of
Sarbaros, went over to him together with five others, three of whom
were captains and two officers of other rank; and he brought them to
the emperor. This man Goundabousan announced some vital news
to the emperor, saying that 'When Chosroes fled from Dastagerd and
went to Ctesiphon and Seleukeia, he contracted dysentery and
wanted to crown his son Merdasan” who was born to Seirem. And

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325

326

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AM 6 iiO Chronographia

he crossed the river again and brought with him Merdasan along
with Seirem and her other son Saliar.*® As for his first-born son
Siroes and his brothers and wives, he left them on the other side of
the river. When Siroes was informed that Chosroes was intending to
crown Merdasan, he was troubled and sent his foster-brother to
Goundabousan with this message, "Come to the other side of the
river that | may meet you." But Goundabousan was afraid to cross
on account of Chosroes and declared to him, "Write me whatever it
is you wish through your foster-brother." So Siroes wrote him the
following: "You know how the Persian state has been destroyed by
this evil man Chosroes, and now he intends to crown Merdasan and
has scorned me, the first-born. If you tell the army that they should
accept me, I shall increase their pay and make peace with the Roman
emperor (and with the Turks), and we shall live in plenty. So strive
with your men that I should become king. I will then promote and
support all of you, and yourself in particular." I informed him
through his foster-brother that I would speak to the army and strive
to the best of my ability. And I spoke to twenty-two captains and
won them over to my views, as well as many other officers and sol-
diers. I announced this to Siroes, who instructed me that on 23
March? should take some young regulars and meet him at the pon-
toon bridge of the Tigris river, present him to the army, and set forth
against Chosroes. And, furthermore, that Siroes had with him the
two sons of Sarbarazas, the son of Iesdem, the son of Aram, and
many other sons of noblemen—a select company. If they succeed in
killing Chosroes, well and good; but if they fail, all of them, includ-
ing Siroes, will go over to the emperor. He sent me to you, O lord,
because he feels ashamed before the Roman Empire,- for, once upon
a time, it saved Chosroes and, on his account, the land of the
Romans has suffered many ills. Because of his ingratitude, he says,
the emperor will have no reason to trust me either.’

Now the emperor sent this man back to Siroes with the message
that he should open the prisons and bring out the Romans confined
therein, and give them arms, and so move against Chosroes. Siroes
obeyed the emperor and, after releasing the prisoners, attacked his
parricide father Chosroes. The latter tried to escape, but failed and
was captured. They bound him securely with iron fetters, his elbows
behind his back, and hung iron weights on his feet and his neck, and
so I least him in the House of Darkness,” which he himself had for-
tified and rebuilt to deposit his moneys therein,- and they starved
him by giving him a paltry amount of bread and water. For Siroes
said, ‘Let him eat the gold he collected in vain, on account of which
he starved many men and made the world desolate.'IK He sent to

454

Chronographia AM 6120

him the satraps that they might insult him and spit upon him, and
he brought Mardesan, whom he had wished to crown, and slew him
in his presence, and all his remaining children were killed in front of
him, and he sent all his enemies that they might insult him, strike
him, and spit upon him. After doing this for five days,**? Siroes com-
manded that he should be killed with bow and arrows, and thus in
slow pain he gave up his wicked soul. Then Siroes wrote to the
emperor to give him the good tidings of the slaying of the foul
Chosroes,-** and after making with him a permanent peace, he
handed back to him all the imprisoned Christians and the captives
held in every part of Persia together with the patriarch Zacharias and
the precious and life-giving Cross that had been taken from
Jerusalem by Sarbarazas, when the latter captured Jerusalem.**

"Geo. Pisid. Her. iii, frg. 26. > Ibid., frg. 29. 1 Tbid., frg. 48.
4 Practically the same story in Mich. Syr. ii. 408-9; Chi. 1234,181-2; Agapios, 201-2.
Somewhat different in Nik. 12. 50 ff. Cf. also Chi. Seert, 220-1, which confirms that
the messenger was captured in Galatia, and our remarks in TM 9 (1985], 107-9.
© Geo. Pisid. Hei. iii, frg. 50. * Ibid., frg. 52.

* AD 626 according to Theoph. (ind. 15 given below). Seeing, however,
that Chosroes was certainly killed in Feb. 628, the year must have been 627.
Cf. also below, n. 4.

* Rahzadh: Justi, Namenbuch, 257-8; Rouzbihan in Syriac sources; Roc-
Vehan or Rocveh (‘the fortunate’) in Sebeos, 83-4 and Movses, 89.

3 Xvaidas in Theoph. Sim. v. 8. 1, Syr. Hnaitha, north of Arbil. Cf.
Minorsky, 'Atropatene’, 244. Stratos, ii. 581, arguing on the basis of the dis-
tances involved, suggests that either Chamaetha should be sought else-
where or 9 Oct. changed to 9 Nov.

* 12 Dec. fell on a Saturday in 627. > 'The Gazelle.’

° Vahram-Arsusa V of Gogarene. See Toumanoff, Studies, 263.

7 For the battle of Nineveh cf. Nik. 14 (imprecise); Sebeos, 84; Movses,
89. Short account in Mich. Syr. ii. 409; Chr. 1234, 183; Agapios, 204.

® It is highly unlikely that Sahrvaraz was anywhere near Constantinople
in Dec. 627. Note that Anast. 198-9, has merely 'imperator vero a se con-
fortatum exercitum contra Chosrohen minabat, quatinus hunc deterreret',
omitting all mention of Sahrvaraz.

° Or, ‘after riding 48 miles in the night, George seized the four bridges’,
etc. Stratos ii. 594, thinks that George could not have covered 48 miles (77
km.) in one night.

* Yazden, the Christian treasurer of the Persian kingdom, who owned
vast estates at Kerkuk, south of the Lesser Zab: Christensen, Iran, 451-2.
Darzindan or Darzanidan in Arabic sources, near Kufri-Salahiyyah,
according to F. Sarre and E. Herzfeld, Archaol. Reise in Euphrat- und
Tigrisgebiet, ii (Berlin, 1920), 88. Cf. O. Klima, BS1 22 (1961), 16-19.
* The Diyala according to Sarre and Herzfeld, loc. cit. and J. Mark wart,

455

am 6iiO Chronographia

Provincial Capitals, 59. H. C. Rawlinson, yres 10 (1841), 92-3, identifies
the Tornas with the northern arm of the Nahrawan canal.

Voaovxoapoy in Evagr. vi. 21, Pp. 237. 15} 'Prjaojvxoapdiv in Theoph. Sim.
v. 14. 7. Probably at Zengabad, north of the Diyalariver: Sarre and Herzfeld,
loc. cit.

“4 Djalula according to Sarre and Herzfeld, loc. cit.

® The favourite residence of Khusro on the road from Ctesiphon to
Hamadan, about 100 km. north-east of the capital. For the ruins see Sarre
and Herzfeld, op. cit. 76 ff.

Barazruz, modern Beled-ruz: Minosrky, 'Atropatene’, 247.

7 Or rather the Lesser Zab in the light of the preceding narrative: see
Baynes, United Service Mag. 47 (1913), 673.

8 Unidentified: Sarre and Herzfeld, op. cit. 88. According to Acta
Anastasii Persae, C. 22, Pp. 147, the army of Herakleios arrived at Dastagerd
on 1 Feb, which Noldeke, taba, 296 n. 1, corrects to 1 Jan. This solution
is rejected by Flusin, Anastase, ii. 267 ff., who argues persuasively that the
chronology of the 4ca is correct, whereas Theophanes drops one month
some time between the battle of Nineveh (12 Dec.) and late Feb. 628. In
other words, Herakleios' advance was slower than described here, while his
halt at Siarzour (about which Theophanes is very vague) was correspond-
ingly shorter. Cf. below, nn. 31 and 34.

See AM 6008, n. 4.

*° Veh-Ardasher, Arab. Bahuraslr: Sarre and Herzfeld, op. cit. 48, 88;
Christensen, san, 387-8; Markwart, Provincial Capitals, 102-3.

* Herakleios Constantine.

This incident is misplaced. It pertains to the year 626 when Sahrvaraz
was at Chalcedon.

2 The Nahrawan canal, Napftav iN Chron. Pasch. 731. 1

*4 Tt is disputed whether this mention does or does not imply the exis-
tence by the year 628 of a tema Armenidton (So accented after Lat.
Armeniaci). For the former view see G. Ostrogorsky, ay: 23 (1953), 64-5,
with some support from W. E. Kaegi, 4): 38 (1968), 273-7. For the latter
view, A. Pertusi, BerichteXl Intern. Byzant.-Kongress (Munich, 1958), 33.

* Sahrizur, south-east of Sulaimaniyyah, Ziapaovpa in Chron. — Pasch.
732. 4.

6 Called Barza by Arab geographers, modern Saqqiz, east of the Zagros
range: Minorsky, 'Atropatene’, 250-1, 253.

*7 Presumably MzezGnuni, ‘le general del a region grecque': Sebeos, 91 ff.

'8 Aspad-Gusnasp: see Justi, Namenbuch, 120. Called rouaSavaairas o
Pafeiin Chron. Pasch: 731. 8.

*9 Mardansah: Justi, Namenbuch, 196. Cf. Khuz Chr 25.

3° Sahryar: Justi, Namenbuch, 174. 3! Presumably 23 Feb.

= Called viov KaartWwv iN Chron: Pasch. 728. 21; ‘in domo viri cuius-
dam cui nomen erat Mihraspend' in kuz chr. 24; similarly Noldeke,
Tabari, 362; Maraspand in Movses, 92.

» Chron, Pasch. 729. 3 Says that Chosroes was imprisoned four days
(25-8 Feb.).

456

Chronographia AM 6120

34 The letter is preserved in part: Chron. Pasch. 735-7; new edn. by
N. Oikonomides, Byz 41 (1971) 2,69~8r. Chron. Pasch. 727 ff. reproduces a
dispatch of Herakleios, written on or soon after 8 Apr., which mentions a
previous dispatch (now lost), sent from the camp near Ganzak on 15 Mar.
(p. 73°- 3); detailing the movements of the Roman army starting on 17 Oct.
It would be tempting to assume that the narrative of Theoph. was based on
the lost dispatch. There are, however, some serious difficulties. The pre-
served dispatch (that of Apr.) dates the uprising of Siroe to 24 Feb., his coro-
nation to the 25th, and the execution of Khusro to the 28th; whereas
Theoph., as already noted, informs us that in Mar. Herakleios, being at
Barzan, learnt of the impending coup and encouraged Siroe to revolt.

35 This is incorrect: see below, AM 6r20.

AM 6119 [AD 62,6/7]

Year of the divine Incarnation 619

Herakleios, 18th year

Siroes, emperor the Persians (1 year), 1st year. (At which time also
Moamed, leader of the Arabs, i.e. the Saracens, living under the
Persians, was in his 6th year out of a total of 9)’

Sergius, 19 th year

Zacharias, 19th year

George, 9 th year

In this year, peace having been concluded between the Persians and
the Romans, the emperor sent his brother Theodore bearing letters
and accompanied by emissaries of Siroes, emperor of Persia, with a
view to sending back peacefully to Persia those Persians who were
at Edessa, in Palestine, Jerusalem, and in other Roman towns: those
were to cross Roman territory without harm.* Now the emperor,
having defeated Persia in the course of six years, made peace in the
seventh and returned with great joy to Constantinople,* thereby ful-
filling a certain u mystical allegory: for God completed all of creation
in six daysl and called the seventh a day of rest. So the emperor
also, after undergoing many toils for six years, returned in the sev-
enth to the City amid peace and joy, and took his rest. When the peo-
ple of the City had learnt of his coming, all of them, with
unrestrained eagerness, Ilwent out to meet himll? at Hiereia,
together with the patriarch and the emperor Constantine, his son,
holding olive u branches and lightsll° and acclaiming him with tears
of joy. Coming forward, his son fell at his feet and embraced him,
and they both Ilshed tears on the ground.n-' At the sight of this, all
the people sent up to God hymns of thanksgiving. After receiving
the emperor in this fashion, they entered the City dancing with joy.

457

AM6iiO Chronographia

"Geo. Pisid. wei. iii, frg. 54a-/}. > Ibid., frg. 54y. ¢ Ibid., frg. 54S,
4 Ibid., frg. 54e.

' Chi. 1ri34, 184 places the accession of Siroe in the 19th year of
Herakleios and the 7th of Muhammad.

* Theodore had to expel by force the Persian garrison at Edessa: Mich. Syr.
ii. 409-10; Chr. 1234, 184-5; Agapios, 205-6.

3 The date of the emperor's return to Constantinople is uncertain. As we
have seen, he was still at Ganzak in Apr. 628, from where he was intending
to proceed to Armenia [Chron. Pasch. 734). Agapios, 452 ff. states that he
spent the winter (of 628/9?) “ Amida: cf. N. H. Baynes, EHR 27 (1912,),
289 ff. He was certainly there at some point because he built a church at
Amida: Ps.-Dion. Chron. 5. There is also an early tradition that he stopped
at Caesarea and gave a fragment of the True Cross to the metropolitan John:
John Mamikonian, tr. J.-R. Emine, FHG v/2: 380. The next reasonably cer-
tain date is July 629 when Herakleios met Sahrvaraz at Arabissos in
Cappadocia: Chr. 724, 14. Nik. 19 states that Herakleios staged his tri-
umphal return to Constantinople after the restoration of the True Cross at
Jerusalem (Mar. 630). Mich. Syr. ii. 409-10 and Chr. 1234, 184-5 (which is
fuller) imply that Herakleios proceeded directly to Syria by way of Telia
(Constantina) and Edessa.

Pertusi in his edn. of Geo. Pisid. 233-4, argues that Herakleios came to
Constantinople before r Jan. 629 and remained there until spring, but he is
certainly wrong in connecting this visit with the processions described in
Cer. ii. 28-29, PP- 628-30, which must be dated 1 and 4 Jan., ind. 12 (639),
not ind. 2 (629) in spite of the reading of the MS. On the other hand, Pertusi
may be right in saying that Novel IV of Herakleios of 21 Mar. 629, (ed. J.
Konidaris, Fontes Minores, v (Frankfurt, 1982), 84 ff.) implies the emperor's
presence in the capital.

AM 6120 [AD 627/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 620

Herakleios, 19th year

Adeser, emperor of the Persians (7 months), 1st year
Sergius, 20th year

Zacharias, 20th year

George, 10th year

In this year, setting forth from the Imperial City in the early spring,
the emperor proceeded to Jerusalem, taking with him the venerable
and life-giving Cross so as to offer thanks to God.’ When he had
come to Tiberias, the Christians there accused a certain man called
Benjamin of oppressing them. For he was very rich and received the
emperor and his army. The emperor censured him, saying: 'For what
reason do you oppress the Christians?’ He replied, ‘Because they are

458

Chronographia AM 6120

enemies of my faith.’ For he was a Jew. Then the emperor instructed
him and, after converting him, had him baptized in the house of
Eustathios of Neapolis, a Christian who also received the emperor.

On entering Jerusalem, the emperor reinstated the patriarch
Zacharias’ and restored the venerable and life-giving Cross to its
proper place. After giving many thanks to God, he drove the Jews
out of the Holy City and ordered that they should not have the right
to come within three miles of the Holy City. And when he had
reached Edessa, he restored the church to the orthodox: for, since the
days of Chosroes, it had been held by the Nestorians.* And when he
came to Hierapolis,’ he was informed that Siroes, the emperor of the
Persians, had died and that Adeser, his son, had succeeded to the
empire of Persia.° After the latter had ruled seven months,
Sarbarazas rose up against him and, having smitten him, ruled over
Persia for two months. But the Persians killed him and appointed
queen the daughter of Chosroes, Borane, who ruled the Persian king-
dom for seven months. She was succeeded by Hormisdas, who was
driven out by the Saracens, and so the kingdom of Persia has
remained under Arab sway to the present time.’

" This suggests that the True Cross had been taken to Constantinople,
which was probably not the case. It is more likely that Herakleios took pos-
session of it at Hierapolis: Mich. Syr. ii. 427; cnr. 1234, 186.

* An error: Zacharias had died in Persia. Cf. Flusin, Anastase, ii. 169.
Modestus was probably appointed patriarch in Mar. 630 and died soon there-
after on 17 Dec.: G. Garitte, museon, 73 (i960), 132 n. 20; Flusin, Anastase,
ii. 316.

3 MSS e and m read instead: 'When the emperor had entered Jerusalem,
the patriarch Zacharias having died on his return to Palestine from captiv-
ity, and the holy Modestus, archimandrite of the monastery of St
Theodosios, the one who rebuilt St Anastasia [i.e. the Anastasis] and holy
Bethlehem—for these had been burnt by the Persians jrerb missing).
Thereupon the emperor ordained the holy Modestus patriarch and drove out
the Jews’, etc. This version is closer to the truth, except that Modestus
appears to have rebuilt, not the basilica of the Nativity at Bethlehem, but
the church of the Shepherds (Poimnion), one mile from that town: cf. Flusin,
Anastase, ti. 176. The date of the restoration of the Cross has been much dis-
puted, different scholars arguing for 628, 629, 630, and 631 respectively. The
correct date is almost certainly 21 Mar. 630 (Acta Anastasii Persae, 12;
Strategios, 54-5, also gives ind. 3 but, incorrectly, the 21st year of
Herakleios). This is confirmed by the fact that Herakleios' dispatch
announcing the event was received at Constantinople on the day of the
resurrection of Lazarus (i. Saturday before Palm Sunday): Geo. Pisid. m
rest. S. Crucis, 229, Vv. 104 ff In 630 Easter fell on 8 Apr. and the day of
Lazarus on 31 Mar., thus allowing ten days for the arrival of the letter. This

459

329

AM 6iio Chronographia

consideration rules out both 628 (Easter 27 Mar.) and 631 (Easter 24 Mar.).
In 629 Easter fell on 16 Apr.. It is difficult to see why Baynes, EHR 27 (1912),
287-8, thought that a message could not have been conveyed from
Jerusalem to Constantinople in ten days. It would certainly have gone by
sea.
4 Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 411-12; Chi. 1234, 185. The cathedral of Edessa was
then in the hands of the Jacobites.
> See am 6121.
° Both Mich. Syr. ii. 410 and Chi. 1234, 186 record the death of Siroe and
the accession of Ardasir (Sept. 628) after Herakleios' visit to Edessa.
7 These indications are quite inaccurate, but correspond to those of
Synkellos, 442. The accepted dates are (Noldeke, Tabari, 432 ff.):
Kavad II Siroe: 25 Feb.-Sept. 628
Ardasir III: Sept. 628-27 Apr. 630
Sahrvaraz: 27 Apr-g June 630
Boran: summer 630-winter 631
Various and Hormizd V: 631-2?
Yazdgerd III: 632/3-651/2.
Nik. 16-17 is even more confused in his sequence: Siroes, Kaboes (in reality
one and the same person), Hormisdas, the latter's son, Sarbaros. Note that
Theoph. did not follow the more accurate Syriac tradition as in Mich. Syr.
ii. 410 and elsewhere.

AM 6121 [AD 628/9]

Year of the divine Incarnation 621

Herakleios, emperor of the Romans (31 years), 20th year
Hormisdas, emperor of the Persians (11 years), 1st year
Sergius, bishop of Constantinople (29 years), 21st year
Zacharias, bishop of Jerusalem (22 years), 21st year
George, bishop of Alexandria (14 years), nth year

In this year, Ilwhile the emperor Herakleios was at Hierapolis, the
patriarch of the Jacobites, Athanasios, came to him.’ This skilful
and wicked man, who was filled with the cunning that is native to
Syrians, took up with the emperor a discussion about religion, and
Herakleios promised him that if he accepted the Council of
Chalcedon, he would make him patriarch of Antioch. So he pre-
tended to accept the council and confessed the two natures that are
united in Christ; and he also enquired of the emperor concerning the
energy and the wills, namely how these should be defined in Christ,
double or single. The emperor was disconcerted by this novel lan-
guage and wrote to Sergius, bishop of Constantinople; he also called
in Kyros, bishop of Phasis, whom he questioned and found him

460

Chionogzaphia AM 6121

agreeing with Sergius on the one will and the one energy. For Sergius,
being himself of Syrian origin, the son of Jacobite parents, confessed
and propounded in writing one natural will and one energy in Christ.
The emperor, being satisfied with the views of these two men, found
that Athanasios, too, was in agreement with them. For the latter
knew that if only one energy was recognized, one nature would
thereby be ackowledged. Being assured in this matter, the emperor
wrote the opinion of the two men to John, Pope of Rome,” but the
latter did not accept their heresy. And when George of Alexandria
had died, Kyros was sent to be bishop of Alexandria. He joined
forces with Theodore, bishop of Pharan, and made that union writ in
water, they, too, setting down one natural energy in Christ.* These
matters having followed such a course, the Council of Chalcedon
and the catholic faith fell into great disrespect. For the Jacobites and
the Theodosians’ boasted, saying: 'It is not we who have communi-
cated with Chalcedon, but rather Chalcedon with us by confessing
one nature of Christ through the one energy.'I\* At this juncture
Sophronios was ordained bishop of Jerusalem and, having convened
the bishops under his authority, anathematized the Monothelete
doctrine and sent synodal letters to Sergius of Constantinople and
John of Rome. nu’ When Herakleios had heard of this, he felt
ashamed; on the one hand, he did not wish to cancel his own actions,
while on the other he could not suffer the reproach. At this time,
then, in the belief of doing a great deed, he published the so-called
Edict,’ which prescribed that one should confess neither one nor two
energies in Christ. When the sectaries of Severus had read this, they
made a mockery of the catholic Church in taverns and baths, saying:
'The Chalcedonians, who formerly held the views of Nestorios,
came to their senses and returned to the truth when they united
with us in the one nature of Christ by way of the one energy. Now,
however, repenting of what was right, they have lost on both counts
by confessing neither one nor two energies in Christ.'I I

uAfter the death of Sergius,* Pyrros succeeded him in the see of
Constantinople and impiously confirmed the doctrines of Sergius
and Kyros. When Herakleios had died and his son Constantine
became emperor, Pyrros along with Martina killed him by poison,’
and Heraklonas, Martina'’s son, was made emperor. But the Senate
and the City drove out Pyrros for his impiety together with Martina
and her son. And so Constans, Constantine's son, became emperor,
while Paul, who was also a heretic, was ordained bishop of
Constantinople. n°’ As for John, bishop of Rome, he convened a
council of bishops and anathematized the Monothelete heresy.”
Likewise, various bishops of Africa, Byzakion, Numidia, and

461

330

331

332

am 612i Chronographia

Mauritania gathered together and anathematized the Mono-
physites.'* And when John of Rome had died, Theodore was
ordained pope in his stead.” I INOW, when Pyrros had come to Africa,
he met the most holy father Maximus, who was venerable by reason
of his monastic achievements, as well as the godly bishops who were
there, who reproved and converted him” and so sent him to Pope
Theodore in Rome. He handed to the pope a declaration of orthodoxy
and was received by him. But when he had departed from Rome and
came to Ravenna, he returned to his own vomit like a dog.“ Upon
learning this, Pope Theodore called together the full body of the
Church and proceeded to the tomb of the foremost Apostle, where
he asked for the holy chalice and, dripping some of Christ's life-giv-
ing blood into the ink, signed with his own hand the condemnation
of Pyrros and those who communicated with him. When Pyrros had
arrived at Constantinople, Paul having died, the daring heretics once
again installed Pyrros in the bishop's throne of Constantinople. us
After the death of Pope Theodore, the most holy Martin was
appointed in Rome. And when Maximus had come to Rome from
Africa and excited the zeal of Pope Martin, they convened a synod of
150 bishops and anathematized Sergius, Pyrros, Kyros, and Paul,
while clearly proclaiming the two wills aiid energies of Christ our
Godlls—this in the 9th year of Constans, grandson of Herakleios,
indiction 8.'> On being informed of it, Constans was filled with
anger and brought Martin and Maximus to Constantinople; and,
after torturing them, he exiled them to Cherson and the Klimata.’°
He also punished many of the western bishops. u After Martin's
exile, Agathon was ordained Pope of Rome, who, being moved by a
divine zeal, also convened a holy synod and rejected the
Monothelete heresy, while proclaiming the two wills and ener-
gies .u"”” And while the Church at that time was being troubled thus
by emperors and impious priests, [[Amalek rose up in the desert,
smiting us, the people of Christ,'* and there occurred the first terri-
ble downfall of the Roman army, I mean the bloodshed at
Gabithas,’? Hiermouchas,” and Dathesmos.” After this came the
fall of Palestine, Caesarea and Jerusalem, then the Egyptian disaster,
followed by the capture of the islands between the continents and of
all the Roman territory, by the complete loss of the Roman army and
navy at Phoinix, and the devastation of all Christian peoples and
lands, which did not cease until the persecutor of the Church had
been miserably slain in Sicily. 1

"Cf. Anast. Sin. Sermo TIT, 1. 20-65, Uthemann, 56-8. V. Maximi, PG 90:
76C-77C. 5 Cf. V. Maximi, 80A-B. © Cf. Anast. Sin. Sermo HI, 1.

462

Chronographia AM 6122

65-77, Uthemann, 58-9; V. Maximi, 80C-D. 4 Cf. V. Maximi, 81A-C.
e 2 Pet. 2: 22. t Cf. Syn. Vetus, c. 138. ’ Cf. passage of same V. Maximi,
ed. R. Devreesse, AnBoll 46 (1928], 18 and comment thereon, p. 44. ’ Cf. Vz
Maximi, 108A. 1 Cf. Anast. Sin. Sermo I/II, 1. 85-101, Uthemann, 59-61.

* For this meeting see Mich. Syr. ii. 412; chr. 1234, 186; Chr Seer, 224.
Anast. Sin. (as in note a) has it happen at Antioch.

* John IV (24 Dec. 640-12 Oct. 642). Dolger lists this letter as reg. 215,
but one may wonder whether John is mentioned here by mistake instead of
Honorius I (625-38). Anast. Sin. semo m, Uthemann, 57, has Herakleios
writing to Pope Martin (649-55)! Cf. also below, n. 6.

3 C.631.

* On Theodore see V. Grumel, zo 27 (1928), 259 ff.; prc xv (1946),
279-82 (E. Amann); Van Dieten, Patriarchen, 25 ff. The union in question
took place at Alexandria in 633: Mansi xi. 564C-568B.

> Followers of Theodosios, Monophysite patriarch of Alexandria
(535-66).

® pg 87: 38-3200; cf. Photios, si, cod. 231. The synodal letter was
addressed to Sergius and Pope Honorius (not John).

7 The Ekthesis of 638 (Mansi x. 992-7), as shown by V. Grumel, £0 17
(1928), 7-ro.

5 9 Dec. 638. ° Cf. below, AM 6132. * Cf. below, AM 6133.

"In 640 or 641. Cf. Syn. Vetus, c 137. * Tbid., cc. 133-6.

% Theodore I (24 Nov. 642-r * May 649).

“ The disputation between Pyrros and Maximus (PG 91: 288 ff.) took
place in July 645 (ind. 3).

° The Lateran Council of 649.

“3 The ‘Regions’ (ksimara) were in the southern part of the Crimean
peninsula. For references see par 323, s.v. Add! Sevcenko, pop 25 (1971),
SS~7: DO Seals, 1. 182.

‘7 Pope Agathon (678-81). The council was heldin 680. Cf. syn. vets, c.
140.

8 Instead of being smitten by the Chosen People, as the Amalekites are
repeatedly in the OT (by Gideon, Saul, and David).

° Al-Jabiya. Cf. AM 6125, n. 3.

*° The Yarmuk, below called (dB 338. 8) 7epiu.ovxgas. According to F.-M.
Abel, Geographie de a Palestine (Paris, 1933), i. 483 n. 3, the form
7€pnovx&v comes from the Arabic.

. Anast. Sin. Sermo i, 1. 89 has r-qv AaOepLwv OY Aadevov. Not men-
tioned again by Theoph. Possibly refers to the village of Dathin near Gaza,
where the patrician Sergius was defeated in 634. Cf. Goeje, Conquer, 34;
Donner, Conquests, ir > Kaegi, Conquests, 88 ff.

am 6122 [ad 629/30]

Year of the divine Incarnation 622
Herakleios, emperor of the Romans (31 years), 21st year

463

333

334

am 6172, Chronographia

Mouamed, leader of the Arabs (9 years), 9th year
Sergius, bishop of Constantinople (29 years), 22nd year
Zacharias, bishop of Jerusalem (22 years), 22nd year
George, bishop of Alexandria (14 years), 12th year

llIn this year died Mouamed, the leader and false prophet of the
Saracens, after appointing his kinsman Aboubacharos (to his chieftain-
ship.Il: At the same time his repute spread abroad) and everyone was
frightened. At the beginning of his advent the misguided Jews
thought he was the Messiah who is awaited by them, so that some of
their leaders joined him and accepted his religion while forsaking that
of Moses, who saw God. Those who did so were ten in number, and
they remained with him until his murder.: But when they saw him eat-
ing camel meat, they realized that he was not the one they thought him
to be, and were at a loss whatto do; being afraid to abjure his religion,
those wretched men taught him illicit things directed against us,
Christians, and remained with him.

Ill consider it necessary to give an account of this man's origin. He
was descended from a very widespread tribe, that of Ishmael, son of
Abraham; for Nizaros, descendant of Ishmael, is recognized as the
father of them all. He begot two sons, Moudaros and_ Rabias.
Moudaros begot Kourasos, Kaisos, Themimes, Asados, and others
unknown.: All of them dwelt in the Midianite desert and kept cattle,
themselves living in tents. There are also those farther away who are
not of their tribe, but of that of lektan, the so-called Amanites, that is
Homerites. And some of them traded on their camels. Being destitute
and an orphan, the aforesaid Mouamed decided to enter the service
of a rich woman who was a relative of his, called Chadiga, as a hired
worker with a view to trading by camel in Egypt and Palestine. Little by
little he became bolder and ingratiated himself with that woman, who
was a widow, took her as a wife, and gained possession of her camels
and her substance. Whenever he came to Palestine he consorted with
Jews and Christians and sought from them certain scriptural matters.
He was also afflicted with epilepsy. When his wife became aware of
this, she was greatly distressed, inasmuch as she, a noblewoman, had
married a man such as he, who was not only poor, but also an epilep-
tic. He tried deceitfully to placate her by saying, 'I keep seeing a vision
of a certain angel called Gabriel, and being unable to bear his sight, I
faint and fall down.' Now, she had a certain monk: living there, a friend
of hers (who had been exiled for his depraved doctrine), and she
related everything to him, including the angel's name. Wishing to sat-
isfy her, he said to her, 'He has spoken the truth, for this is the angel
who is sent to all the prophets.' When she had heard the words of the

464

Chronographia AM 6120

false monk, she was the first to believe in Mouamed and proclaimed to
other women of her tribe that he was a prophet. Thus, the report
spread from women to men, and first to Aboubacharos, whom he left
as his successor. This heresy prevailed in the region of Ethribos,ll* in
the last resort by war: at first secretly, forten years, and by war another
ten, and openly nine.: HHe taught his subjects that he who kills an
enemy or is killed by an enemy goes to Paradise; and he said that this
paradise was one of carnal eating and drinking and intercourse with
women, and had a river of wine, honey, and milk,Il: and that the
women were not like the ones down here, but different ones, and that
the intercourse was long-lasting and the pleasure continuous; and
other things full of profligacy and stupidity; also that men should feel
sympathy for one another and help those who are wronged.

In the same year, indiction 4, on 7 November,° a son, David, was
born to Herakleios in the East. On the same day was born
Herakleios, the son of the younger Herakleios, who was also
Constantine, son of the elder Herakleios,- and he was baptized by the
patriarch Sergius at Blachernai on 3 November, indiction 5.’

° Cf. Chr. 1234,187 (also 21st year of Herakleios, AGg43, after a 'reign' of ten years);
Chr. 819, 7 (AG 942); Elias Nis. 63 (AH II). > Borrowed with some abbreviation
and a few changes (e.g. Khadlj a's adviser is called an Arian monk) by Geo. Mon. 697.
11-699. '°; DAI 14. 2-28 (from Geo. Mon.) and several later Byzantine authors. For
the relation of DAI to Theoph. see J. B. Bury, BZ 15 (1906], 525 ff. This passage is cer-
tainly of eastern origin, but its source is unknown. Cf. DAI, Commentary, 70-1.
Mich. Syr. ii. 403-5 and Chr. 1234, 178-80 give substantially different accounts of
Muhammad. © Cf. Geo. Mon. 699, appar. (cod. P); DAI 14. 28-31.

" Muhammad died in 632.

* axpi rmjs atpayrjs avTov, supported by Anast. (usque ad caedem eius).
Note the variant <fsayrjs (MSS e, f). Muhammad, of course, was not murdered.
Besides, the sequence of thought appears to require something like ‘until
they had seen him taking food’. The reading <fayrjs is not appropriate unless
it can mean the act of eating rather than 'food', the latter given by Du Cange,
Gloss., s.vv. <f>ayr), <f>ayi. Dr R. Hoy land has drawn our attention to Chr. 8rs,
7, which says of Muhammad, primus fecit sacrificium, et comedendum
imposuit Arabibus, praeter eorum morem. The eating of camel is forbidden
in Deut. r4: 7. The story of the rabbis, of whom only two embraced Islam
sincerely, whereas the others pretended to do so, is found in the Sira of Ibn
Ishaq (d. 768), trans. A. Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (London, 1955),
239 ff., 246 ff.

3 These names correspond to Nizar, Mudar, Rabi'a, Quraish, Qais,
Tamim, and Asad. Discussion by L. I. Conrad, ByzF 15 (1990), rr ff. Longer
genealogy in Chr. 1234, 187-8. On genealogies see EI’, s.v. ‘Arab (Djazirat
al-), 544 ff.

+ /xovaxov is changed to /xoixov in codd. d, f, z and is so already in Anast.

465

335

am 6172, Chronographia

209. 19 (adulterum). The legend of a Christian monk, variously called
Sergius, Bahira, or Nastur, who was either the teacher of Muhammad or rec-
ognized him as a prophet, enjoyed a wide currency. See S. Gero in Syrie col-
loque, 47-58.

> The durations given here, although presumably derived from an Arab
source, do not agree with the Muslim tradition. See L. I. Conrad, ByzF 15
(1990), 18 ff.

6 aD 630. 7 aD 631.

AM 6123 [AD 630/1]

Year of the divine Incarnation 623

Herakleios, 22nd year

Aboubacharos, leader of the Arabs (3 years), 1st year
Sergius, 23 rd year

Modestus, bishop of Jerusalem (2 years),' 1st year
George, 13thyear

In this year the Persians rose up one against the other and fought an
internecine war. At the same time the king of India sent gratulatory
gifts to Herakleios on the occasion of his victory over Persia, namely
pearls and a considerable number of precious stones.

Mouamed, who had died earlier,: had appointed four emirs to fight
those members ofthe Arab nation who were Christian, and they came
in front of a village called Mouchea,: in which was stationed the vicar-
ius Theodore, intending to fall upon the Arabs on the day when they
sacrificed to their idols.: The vicarius, on learning this from a certain
Koraishite: called Koutabas, who was in his pay, gathered all the sol-
diers of the desert guard and, after ascertaining from the Saracen the
day and hour when they were intending to attack, himself attacked
them at a village called Mothous, and killed three emirs and the bulk
of their army. One emir, called Chaled, whom they call God's Sword,’
escaped. Now some of the neighbouring Arabs were receiving small
payments from the emperors for guarding the approaches to the
desert. At that time a certain eunuch arrived to distribute the wages of
the soldiers, and when the Arabs came to receive their wages accord-
ing to custom, the eunuch drove them away, saying, 'The emperor can
barely pay his soldiers their wages, much less these dogs!' Distressed
by this, the Arabs went over to their fellow-tribesmen, and it was they
that led them to the rich country of Gaza, which is the gateway to the

desert in the direction of Mount Sinai.:

* Incorrect: see AM 6120, n. 2. Nik. Chron. 126 gives him one year;
Eutychios, PG in: 1091B, nine months.

466

Chronographia AM 6120

* According to Arab tradition the expedition to Mu'ta (east of the south-
ern end of the Dead Sea) took place in 629, well before Muhammad's death.
See 'Mu'ta’, EI’ iii. 773-4 (F. Buhl); M. V. Krikov, VizVrem 40 (1979),
96-103; Donner, Conquests, 101 with n. 26, 103 with n. 39; Kaegi,
Conquests, 71 ff.

3 Identification unclear: Ma'ab according to Goeje, Conquete, 6-7;
Khirbat al-Mahna according to A. Musil, Arabia Petraea, i (Vienna, 1907),
152; Mu'an (Ma'n?) according to Krikov, op. cit.

* The construction is ambiguous (r“ ri/J-epa rrjs elSoXodvoias airrcZtv). We
believe Krikov, op. cit. 98, is right in saying that must refer to the Muslims
irrespective of the nature of the sacrifice in question. We find it less likely
that Theoph. is reproducing a Muslim tradition which referred to idolatrous
Christian worship: so L. I. Conrad, ByzF 15 (1990), 23-6.

5 Kopaaijvos here and elsewhere. ° Presumably Qutba.

7 Khalid b. al-Walld surnamed Sayf Allah.

8 A different story involving the non-payment to Byzantine Arabs of 30
Ibs. of gold by Sergius is told by Nik. 20.

AM 6124 [AD 631/2]

Year of the divine Incarnation 624

Herakleios, emperor of the Romans (31 years), 23rd year
Abouhacharos, leader of the Arabs (3 years), 2nd year
Sergius, bishop of Constantinople (29 years), 24th year
Modestus, bishop of Jerusalem (2 years), 2nd year
George, bishop of Alexandria (14 years), 14th year

II In this year Aboubacharos sent four generals: who were conducted,
as I said earlier, by the Arabs and so came and took Hera: and the
whole territory of Gaza.: At length, Sergius arrived with some difficulty
with a few soldiers from Caesarea in Palestine. He gave battle and was
the first to be killed along with his soldiers, who were 300.: Taking
many captives and much booty, the Arabs returned home after their
brilliant victory.I}

IIAt the same time an earthquake occurred in Palestine; and there
appeared a sign in the heavens called dokites in the direction of the
south, foreboding the Arab conquest. It remained for thirty days, mov-

ing from south to north, and was sword-shaped.I1

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 413; Chr. 1234, 189-90. Both tell a similar story: Sergius, styled
a patrician, raises a force of 5,000 including (or composed of) Samaritans, who defect;
he escapes from battle, falls off his horse three times, then is killed. No mention of
either Hera or Gaza. Condensed account in Agapios, 193-4, 208-9. ’ Cf. Mich.
Syr. ii. 414 (nearly the same text; earthquake in Sept. AG 945); Agapios, 194; Ps.-Dion.
Chron. 5 (AG 937, stars moving north, presaging Arab conquest); Chr. Seert, 260.

467

337

AM 6172, Chronographia

* According to Syriac sources (as in note a), the four generals were sent
respectively against Palestine, Egypt, Persia, and the Christian Arabs.
Arabic sources also speak of four commanders: Donner, Conquests, 113 ff.
The traditional date is AH 13 (634).

2 "Hpav, accusative (var. "Hpav, Ran Anast.). Caetani, Annali, ii. 1143 n. 1,
thinks this is a confused reference to al-Hira, the Lakhmid capital in Iraq,
which was captured by Khalid b. al-Walld in 633. Cf. Chi. Seeit, 260. P.
Meyerson, TAPA 95 (1964), 161, suggests that it refers to Pharan in Sinai.
Kaegi, Conquests, 90, takes it to mean simply ‘camp’ (hira), i.e. one occu-
pied by Arab guards in the neighbourhood of Gaza. See also L. I. Conrad,
ByzF 15 (1990), 30.

3 Not Gaza itself, which was taken in June/July 637: A. Guillou, BCH 81
(1957), 396-404.

‘ Possibly he had 300 Romans, the rest being Samaritans. The death of
Sergios (called a candidatus) is mentioned in Docti. Jacobi, v. 16, and, rather
obscurely, by Nik. 20. 11, who calls him Hepyios o Kara Nikr/rav, if that is,
indeed, the same person.

[AM 6125, AD 632/3]

Herakleios, 24th year

Aboubacharos, 3rd year

Sergius, 25th year

Sophronios, bishop of Jerusalem (3 years), 1st year’
Kyros, bishop of Alexandria (10 years), 1st year

II In this year Aboubacharos died after being emir two and a half years,
and Oumaros succeeded to the power. He (sent an expedition against
Arabia): and took the city of Bostra as well as other cities.Il; And they
advanced as far as Gabitha.: Theodore, the brother of the emperor
Herakleios, engaged them, but was defeated and came to the
emperor at Edessa.‘ The emperor appointed another commander
called Baanes and sent Theodore the _ sakellarios at the head of a
Roman army against the Arabs.: When he came to Emesa,* he met a
multitude of Saracens whom he slew together with their emir, and
drove the rest as far as Damascus; and he encamped there by the river
Bardanesios.’ As for Herakleios, he abandoned Syria in despair: and,
taking the Holy Cross from Jerusalem, proceeded to Constantinople.
He diverted Baanes and Theodore the sakellarios from Damascus to
Emesa at the head of an army of 40,000,° and they pursued the Arabs

from Emesa to Damascus.

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 417, AG 946, AH 13, 24th year of Herakleios (nearly the same as
Theoph., except that AbuBakr is given a reign of 2 years); Chi. 1234, 192 (AbuBakr 2
years).

468

Chronographia AM 6126

* Sophronios became patriarch of Jerusalem early in 634: Schonborn, 85.

* i.e. the Roman province of that name. Bostra was taken in 634 accord-
ing to some Arab sources: Donner, Conquests, 129.

3 Al-Jabiya. Also mentioned by Nik. 20. 27. The Syriac fragment, ed.
Noldeke, ZDMG 29 (1875), 76 ff., tr. Chabot. CSCO, Scr. Syri, 3rd ser. 4
(1904), 60, associates Gabita with the battle of the Yarmuk (636). So does
Mich. Syr. ii. 420. See the map in Kaegi, Conquests, 113.

* The defeat of Theodore is told very differently b y Mich. Syr. ii. 418; Chr.
1234, 190-1 (fuller than Michael). He was one of two commanders at the
battle of Ajnadain, an engagement not mentioned in Greek sources by that
name. On its situation see Kaegi, Conquests, 98.

> The construction is unclear (0 Se /3aaiAeus irpoxtipiTai erepov
OTpaTTjyov, ovopiaTL Badvrjv, Kai ©eohwpov aaKeWapw . . . irep,Trei Kara
Apafiojv). This can mean either that Theodore alone or that Baanes together
with Theodore were sent against the Arabs. Kedr. i. 745 understood it in the
former sense (tow Si aaKeWapiov, etc.). Cf. Goeje, Conquete, 84-5, who pro-
poses various emendations of this passage.

° According to the Syriac fragment, Emesa had capitulated in Jan. 635:
Noldeke, ZDMG 29 (1875), 78. The same document, p. 79, refers to the
Roman army pursuing the Arabs in the region of Emesa.

? The Barada. Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 420: ‘le fleuve Farfar, que les Arabes appel-
lent Bardan’. It is difficult to equate this Roman success with any event
known from Arabic sources. Perhaps it refers to the engagement of Merdj as-
Soffar near Damascus in which Khalid b. Sa'ld was killed. See Goeje,
Conquete, 78 ff.

8 The departure of Herakleios, when he uttered the famous exclamation,
‘Farewell, Syria!’ (Mich. Syr. ii. 424; Chr. 1234, 196), would more naturally
have taken place after the battle of the Yarmuk rather than the previous
year, when the considerable army he had raised was as yet undefeated.

° De Boor prints e’xovras arparov from Anast.'s cum haberent, in prefer-
ence to ex?” (x, z). This agrees with the statement under AM 6126 that the
combined force of the two generals was 40,000. The movements of Baanes
and Theodore are difficult to follow at this juncture.

AM 6126 [AD 633/4]

Year of the divine Incarnation 626

Herakleios, emperor of the Romans (31 years), 25th year
Oumaros, leader of the Arabs (12 years), 1st year
Sergius, bishop of Constantinople (29 years), 26th year
Sophronios, bishop of Jerusalem (3 years), 2nd year
Kyros, bishop of Alexandria (10 years), 2nd year

II In this year the Saracens—an enormous multitude of them—(setting

out from) Arabia, made an expedition to the region of Damascus.:

469

338

339

AM 6172, Chronographia

When Baanes had learnt of this, he sent a message to the imperial
sakellarios, asking the latter to come with his army to his help, seeing
that the Arabs were very numerous. So the _ sakellarios joined Baanes
and, setting forth from Emesa, they met the Arabs. Battle was given
and, on the first day, which was a Tuesday, the 23rd of the month
Loos,: the men of the sakellarios were defeated. Now the soldiers of
Baanes rebelled and proclaimed Baanes emperor, while they abjured
Herakleios. Then the men _ of the sakellarios withdrew, and the
Saracens, seizing this opportunity, joined battle. And as a south wind
was blowing in the direction of the Romans, they could not face the
enemy on account of the dust and were defeated. Casting themselves
into the narrows of the river Hiermouchthas, they all perished, the
army of both generals numbering 40,000.: Having won this brilliant
victory, the Saracens came to Damascus and captured itll: as well as
the country of Phoenicia, and they settled there and made an expedi-
tion against Egypt.

1l(When Kyros, the bishop of Alexandria, had been informed of their
onset, he took measures and, fearing their rapacity, concluded a treaty
with them, promising that Egypt would pay them every year 200,000
denarii‘ and send them gold in respect of the appointed delay. By pro-
viding these sums for three years, he spared Egypt from disaster.) Now
Kyros was accused before the emperor of giving to the Saracens the
gold of Egypt. The emperor, in anger, sent a message to recall him and
appointed a certain Manuel, an Armenian by origin, as augustalis. At
the end of the year the Saracen tribute collectors came to receive the
gold, but Manuel drove them away empty-handed, saying, 'I am not
unarmed like Kyros that I should pay you tribute. Nay, I am armed.'
When these men had departed, the Saracens immediately took up
arms against Egypt and, after joining battle with Manuel, routed him.
He took refuge in Alexandria with a few men. Then the Saracens
imposed taxes on Egypt. When Herakleios had heard of these events,
he dispatched Kyros to persuade the Saracens to depart from Egypt
according to the former treaty. So Kyros went to the camp of the
Saracens and offered many excuses, saying he was innocent of the

transgression and urging them, if they so wished, to confirm the for-

mer accord by oath. The Saracens, however, were not satisfied and
said to the bishop, ‘Are you able to swallow that enormous pillar?' He
replied, That is impossible.' To which they said, 'Nor is it possible for
us to depart from Egypt at this time.'Il*

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 420-1 (some details different, but basically the same account];
Chr. 1234, 195-6 speaks of two battles, at the second one of which a Roman army of
300,000, led by three commanders was defeated. b Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 425; Chr.

470

Chionogzaphia AM 6121

1234, 197-8 adds a story about the role of the Monophysite patriarch Benjamin in
facilitating the Arab conquest. Cf. also Agapios, 211-14.

" Note that the verb eTreoTpdrevaav is an emendation /larpaTevaav codd.)
and (KaraXnTOVTes) an addition, both from Geo. Mon. 707 [emorparevaavre;
ot 'Apafies * . . Kal mv Mpafiiav KaraXiirovTis, etc.).

* July in the Macedonian calendar. The day of the week corresponds to AD
636.

3 For the battle of the Yarmuk see Goeje, Conquete, 103 ff., Donner,
Conquests, 133 ff., Kaegi, Conquests, 112 ff.

4 Elias Nis. 63 dates the capture of Damascus to Radjab, AH 14; Chi. 819,
I to AG 945.

> De Boor by mistake prints 120,000 (the passage being supplied from
Anast., who has ducenta milia). The use of the term ‘denarii’ [dinai] betrays
the Oriental source.

« The story of Kyros, given very differently by Nik. 23, 26, is hopelessly
confused. Butler, Conquest, 207-9, *6i~4, 481-2, 526 ff., argues that the
report of the tribute paid by Kyros to stave off the conquest of Egypt is a
myth; that he made an offer of tribute only during the siege of Babylon (Sept.
640) and was recalled to Constantinople at the end of that year; that he
returned to Egypt in Sept. 641. On the expedition of Manuel (late in 645),
ibid. 469 ff. See also P. M. Fraser's additional notes, pp. Ixviii ff.

AM 6127 [AD 634/5]

Year of the divine Incarnation 627

Herakleios, emperor of the Romans (31 years), 26th year
Oumaros, leader of the Arabs (12 years), 2nd year
Sergius, bishop of Constantinople (29 years), 27th year
Sophronios, bishop of Jerusalem (3 years), 3rd year
Kyros, bishop of Alexandria (10 years), 3rd year

II In this year Oumaros invaded Palestine and, after investing the Holy
City for two years, took it by capitulation;: for Sophronios, the bishop
of Jerusalem, received a promise of immunity for the whole of
Palestine. Oumaros entered the Holy City dressed in filthy garments of
camel-hair and, showing a devilish pretence, sought the Temple of the
Jews—the one built by Solomon—that he might make it a place of
worship for his own blasphemous religion. Seeing this, Sophronios
said, 'Verily, this is the abomination of desolation standing in a holy
place, as has been spoken through the prophet Daniel."’ And with
many tears the defender of piety bewailed the Christian people. While
Oumaros was there, the patriarch begged him to receive from him a
kerchief and a garment to put on, but he would not suffer to wear

them. At length, he persuaded him to put them on until his clothes

471

340

AM 6172, Chronographia

were washed, and then he returned them to Sophronios and put on his
own. Thereupon Sophronios died* after adorning the Church of
Jerusalem by word and deed and struggling against the Monothelete
heresy of Herakleios and his companions Sergius and Pyrros.

llIn the same year Oumaros sent lad: to Syria and he made all of

Syria subject to the Saracens.II

"Dan. 11: 3i; cf. Mt. 24: 15; Mk. 13: 14. > Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 425-6 (AG 948,
AH 15, 26th year of Herakleios); Chr. 1234, 199-200 (AG 946, AH 15, 46th (sic) year of
Herakleios); Agapios, 215. © Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 426 (Tyad not mentioned); Chr.

1234, 200 (presumably under AH 19); Agapios, 216 (mentioning'abbad b. 'Asim instead
of lyad).

* Jerusalem is usually said to have been taken in Feb. 638, but there is
serious evidence that it was in Arab hands by Dec. 637. See A. Guillou, BCH

81 (i957), 401.
* According to Schonborn, 97 n. 136, Sophronios died on 11 Mar. 639.

3 'Iyad b. Ghanm al-Fihri.

[AM 6128, AD 635/6]

Herakleios, 27th year
Oumaros, 3rd year
Sergius, 28th year
Kyros, 4th year

II In this year John surnamed Kataias, the governor of Osrhoene,' came
to lad at Chalkis and covenanted to pay him every year 100,000 solidi
on condition that he would not cross the Euphrates either peacefully
or by force of arms as long as that amount of gold was paid to him.:
Thereupon John returned to Edessa and, having collected the annual
tax, sent itto lad. When Herakleios had heard ofthis, he judged John
to be guilty for having done such a thing without the emperor's knowl-
edge; and, having recalled him, condemned him to exile. In his stead
he appointed a certain general called Ptolemaios.11"

Cf. Chr. 1234, 200 (John given no surname); Mich. Syr. ii. 426 (Ptolemy not men-
tioned); Agapios, 216 (Byzantine governor of Mesopotamia called Paul, replaced by
Ptolemy).

€7TLTpo7roé. His exact title is unclear. Cf. PLRE iii. 703, Joannes 2.41.
For the truce concluded at Chalkis cf. Kaegi, Conquests, 159-60. The
expression ‘peacefully or by force of arms’ corresponds to the Arabic formula
sulhan—'anwatan.

3 PLRE iii. 1070, Ptolemaeus 7. For his seal see Seibt, Bleisiegel, no. 200.

472

Chronographia AM 6120

[AM 6129, AD 636/7]

Herakleios, 28 th year
Oumaros, 4th year
Sergios, 29 th year
Kyros, 5thyear

IlIn this year the Arabs captured Antioch. Mauias: was appointed by
Oumaros commander and emir of all the territory under the Saracens,

from Egypt to the Euphrates.|]:

"Cf. Chi. 1234, 200 (presumably under AH 20); Agapios, 216-17; not in Mich. Syr.

1 Mu'awiya b. Abl Sufyan.

AM 6130 [AD 637/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 630

Herakleios, emperor of the Romans (31 years), 29th year
Oumaros, leader of the Arabs (12 years), 5th year

Pyrros, bishop of Constantinople (3 years), 1st year’
Kyros, bishop of Alexandria (10 years), 6th year

Il In this year lad crossed the Euphrates with his whole army and
reached Edessa. The Edessenes opened their gates and were given
terms, including their territory, their military commander, and the
Romans who were with him. The Saracens went on to Constantia,:
which they besieged and took by war and killed 300 Romans. From
there they went on to Daras, which they also took by war and slew

many people therein. In this way lad captured all of Mesopotamia. 11?

° Cf. Chi. 1234, 200-1, AG 951, with further details; Mich. Syr. ii. 426, less detailed
(same AG, AH 18, 27th year of Herakleios, 6th of 'Umar); Ps.-Dion. Chion. 6 (invasion
of Mesopotamia in AG 948; capture of Dara by capitulation in AG 952); Elias Nis. 64
(capture of Edessa in AH 16, of Telia and Amida in AH 18).

" Ordained 20 Dec. 638: Van Dieten, Patriaichen, 58.
* More correctly Constantina (Telia, modern Viran§ehir).

[AM 6131, AD 638/9]

Herakleios, 30th year
Oumaros, 6th year
Pyrros, 2nd year
Kyros, 7thyear

473

AM 6172, Chronographia

IlIn this year the Saracens invaded Persia. They gave battle and
utterly defeated the Persians, whom they subjugated entirely.
Hormisdas, emperor of Persia, took to flight and, abandoning his
palace, made for the innermost part of Persia. The Saracens on their
part captured the daughters of Chosroes and all the royal equipment,
and these were brought to Oumaros. 01"

IIAt the same time Oumaros ordered a census to be made of all the
inhabited territory under his rule. The census embraced people,
beasts, and plants.11>

Source unclear. The end of the Persian Empireis described by Mich. Syr. ii. 423-4,
430 and, differently, in Chr. 1234, 193-4, ?'3 (which does specify that the Arabs, after
taking Ctesiphon, eius thesauios et divitias tulerunt, cum familia regis et familiis
optimatum). The last king of Persia was, of course, Yazdgerd. > Cf. Mich. Syr.
ii. 426, AG 951; not in Chr. 1234.

[AM 6132, AD 639/40]

Herakleios, 31st year
Oumaros, 7th year
Pyrros, 3rd year
Kyros, 8th year

Illn this year, in the month of March, indiction 14, the emperor
Herakleios died of dropsy after a reign of 30 years and 10 months.’
After him, his son Constantine reigned 4 months and died after
being poisoned by his stepmother Martina and the patriarch Pyrros.*
And so Heraklonas, Martina's son, became emperor together with
his mother Martina. n°

2 Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 426; Chr. 1234, 203. 16-23 (both very close to Theoph.); Chr.
Seert, 308-9.

* Read 5 months as in the Syriac sources. Nik. 27 implies that Herakleios
died on u Feb. 641. The Chr. Attinate gives 1 Jan., which has been
accepted by P. Grierson, DOP 16 (1962), 48. Stratos, iii. 162, 231-2, returns
to Feb. Nik. 29. 6 says that Constantine III survived his father by 103 days,
which means that he died on 24 May if Herakleios died on u Feb.

* It is more likely that Constantine died of natural causes. See J. Kaestner,
Deimperio Constantini III (Leipzig, 1907), 13.

[AM 6133, AD 640/1]

Heraklonas, emperor of the Romans (6 months), 1st year
Oumaros, 8th year

474

Chronographia AM 6120

Paul, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 1st year
Kyros, gthyear

II In this year Mauias took Caesarea in Palestine after seven years' siege
and killed 7,000 Romans in it.1]?!

In this year the Senate rejected Heraklonas together with his
mother Martina and Valentinus.* They cut off Martina's tongue and
the nose of Heraklonas and, having exiled them, placed on the
throne Constans, son of Constantine and grandson of Herakleios,
and he ruled twenty-seven years. And after Pyrros had been evicted
from his bishopric, Paul, the presbyter and oikonomos (of the
Church) was ordained patriarch of Constantinople in the month of
October, indiction 15,* and he remained bishop twelve years.11"

" Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 430-1 [more detailed; siege lasts from Dec. to May, that is 6
months, not 7 years; garrison of 7,000 Romans mentioned); Chr. ri4, 202-3 (4° 95°;
confused by editor with Caesarea of Cappadocia); Ps.-Dion. Chron. 6 (AG 953); Elias
Nis. 65 (AH 19; 100,000 people killed); Agapios, 218. 5 Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 426-7;
Chr. 1234, 203 (no mention of Pyrros and Paul); Nik. 32.11 (ordination of Paul with

same date).

* Caesarea fell some time between 639 and 641. See Donner, Conquests,

153-
* PLRE iii. 1353-5, Valentinus 4 and 5. On the role of Valentinus and his
rebellion see Kaegi, Unrest, 154 ff. He is described by Sebeos as an Arsacid
and a commander of the eastern forces. His promotion to comes excubito-
rum is confirmed by a seal: Zacos—Veglery, i/i, no. 1087.
3 1 Oct. AD 641: see Van Dieten, Patriarchen, 76.

AM 6134 [AD 641/2]

Year of the divine Incarnation 634

Constans, emperor of the Romans (27 years), 1st year
Oumaros, leader of the Arabs (12 years), 9th year
Paul, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 2nd year
Kyros, bishop of Alexandria (10 years), 10th year

In this year Constans,’ after becoming emperor, addressed the
Senate as follows: 'My father Constantine, who begot me, reigned for
a considerable time in the lifetime of his father, that is my grand-
father Herakleios, as co-emperor and, after his death, for a very short
time; for the envy of his stepmother Martina both cut off his fair
hopes and deprived him of life, and this on account of Heraklonas,
her illicit offspring by Herakleios. Your godly decision rightly cast
her out from the imperial dignity along with her child lest the
Roman Empire appeared to be ruled in an unlawful manner, as your

475

342

343

AM 6172, Chronographia

superlative Magnificence* well knew. Wherefore I call on you to be
my expert counsellors regarding the common good of our subjects.’
With these words he dismissed the Senate after bestowing (gener-
ous) gifts on them.

" His official name was Constantine. He was 10 years old at the time of
his accession.

* This appears to be addressed to a single person (the president of the
Senate?).

[AM 6135, AD 642/3]

Constans, 2nd year
Oumaros, 1oth year
Paul, 3rd year
Kyros, nth year

II In this year Oumaros started to build the temple at Jerusalem, but
the structure would not stand and kept falling down. When he
enquired after the cause of this, the Jews said, ‘If you do not remove
the cross that is above the church on the Mpunt of Olives,: the struc-
ture will not stand.' On this account the cross was removed from there,
and thus their building was compacted. For this reason Christ's ene-

mies took down many crosses.II

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 431, Chr. 1234, 204. 6-11; Chr. Seert, 304.

* The original Aqsa mosque. According to an anecdote preserved in a
Georgian version the building of the mosque began before the death of the
patriarch Sophronios (639): G. Garitte, Byz 36 (1966), 414-16. Cf. B. Flusin,
'L'Esplanade du Temple a l'arrivee des Arabes', in J. Raby and J. Johns, eds.,
Bayt al-Magqdis. 'Abd al-Malik's Jerusalem, pt. 1 (Oxford, 1992), 17 ff.

* Either the so-called Eleona or the rotunda of the Ascension at the very
top of the mountain.

[AM 6136, AD 643/4]

Constans, 3rd year

Oumaros, nth year

Paul, 4th year

Peter, bishop of Alexandria (10 years), 1st year

II In this year the patrician Valentinian rebelled against Constans.:' The
emperor gave orders for him to be killed and transferred his army to

his own allegiance.il:

476

Chionogzaphia AM 6121

An eclipse of the sun occurred on the 5th of the month Dios,: a

Saturday, in the 9th hour.11'

"Cf. Chi. 1234, 203. 31-2 (AG 955). > Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 432 (year not given,-
g Oct., 3rd hour of the day); Agapios, 219 (nth year of ‘Umar, Friday, 1 Nov.).

Presumably the same as Valentinus mentioned under AM 6133. Cf.
Kaegi, Uniest, 157-8.
* November. The eclipse occurred on 5 Nov. 644, which was a Friday.

[AM 6137, AD 644/5]

Constans, 4th year
Oumaros, 12th year
Paul, 5thyear

Peter, 2nd year

Il In this year Oumaros, the leader of the Saracens, was murdered on
the 5th of the month Dios by a Persian apostate who found him in
prayer and pierced his stomach with a sword, thus depriving him of life
after he had been emir twelve years. After him was appointed his kins-

man Outhman, son of Phan.II"

"Cf. Chi. 819, 8 (AG 955, 'Uthman killed a seivo Indo viii Coiaishitae), Chi. 1234,
204. 13-22 (murdered on 4 Nov. by a seivus quidam lomanus alicuius coiaishitae
Mich. Syr. ii. 430; Agapios, 219.

* 'Uthman b. Affan.

[AM 6138, AD 645/6]

Constans, 5th year

Outhman, leader of the Arabs (10 years), 1st year
Paul, 6th year

Peter, 3rd year

Il In this year Gregory, the patrician of Africa, raised a _ rebellion

together with the Africans.1]#!

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 440 (AG 958, AH 25, 5th year of Constans both for Gregory's rebel-
lion and the invasion of Africa by the Arabs); Chi.1234, 203. 33-4 (AGg56); Agapios,

219 (contemporary with accession of 'Uthman).

* For the rebellion of the exarch Gregory see Kaegi, Uniest, 159-60.

477

344

AM 6172, Chronographia

AM 6139 [AD 646/7]

Year of the divine Incarnation 639

Constans, emperor of the Romans (27 years), 6th year
Outhman, leader of the Arabs (10 years), 2nd year
Paul, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 7th year
Peter, bishop of Alexandria (10 years), 4th year

II In this year a violent wind blew upon the earth. It uprooted many
plants and tore up huge trees, roots and all, and threw down many
columns of stylites.II-

II In the same year the Saracens invaded Africa and, after joining bat-
tle with the rebel Gregory, routed him, slew his followers, (and drove
him out of Africa).Il) Having laid a tribute on the Africans, they

returned home.

"Cf. Chr. 1234, 204. 3-5 (AG 956); Mich. Syr. ii. 445 (AG 958 conjecturedby ed.: MS
has 908); Agapios, 220 (2nd year of TJthman). > Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 440-1 (AG
958); Chi. 1234, 203. 34-204. 2 (AG 956); Agapios, 219. The Syriac sources add that
Gregory escaped alive and made his submission to the emperor.

[AM 6140, AD 647/8]

Constans, 7th year
Outhman, 3rd year
Paul, 8thyear
Peter, 5th year

II In this year Mauias invaded Cyprus by sea. He had 1,700 ships, and
took Constantia and the whole island, which he laid waste.I1:: On hear-
ing, however, that the cubicularius Kakorizos was moving against him
with a great Roman force, he sailed away to Arados and, after putting
in his fleet, attempted to capture with the help of various engines the
little town called Kastellos on that island. Meeting with no success, he
sent to the inhabitants a certain bishop called Thomarichos to frighten
them into abandoning the town, submitting to terms, and leaving the
island. When the bishop had come in to meet them, they held him
inside and did not yield to Mauias. The siege of Arados having thus

proved fruitless, he returned to Damascus since winter had set in.I]™

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 441-2 (first Arab invasion of Cyprus in AG 960, followed by a sec-
ond, led by Abul-A'war); Chi. 1234, 209. 19-212. 36 (likewise); Agapios, 195 (6th year
of Constans); Ps.-Dion. 7 (AG 960); Elias Nis. 66 (AH 28]. b Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 442
(more succinct|; Chi. 1234, 211. 33-4 (report of the arrival of a Roman force), 213.
1-10 (siege of Arados); Agapios, 220 (3rd year of 'Uthman). Note that the eastern

478

Chronographia AM6120

sources do not name either the Cubicularius Kakorizos or the town Kastellos. They
call the bishop Thomas.

* Two inscriptions recently discovered at Soloi prove that the first inva-
sion of Cyprus took place in 649 and the second the following year (TU>
e-rredovTixpovco): T. T. Tinh in Soloi: Dix campagnes defouilles (1964-74)
(Sainte-Foy, 1985), iré ff.

* On this incident see the exhaustive study of L. I. Conrad, 'Arwad'.

[AM 6141, AD 648/9]

Constans, 8thyear
Outhman, 4th year
Paul, gth year
Peter, 6thyear

II In this year Mauias set out against Arados with a great armament and
took it by capitulation on condition that its inhabitants would dwell
wherever they wished. He burnt the town, destroyed its walls, and
caused the island to be uninhabited to this day.Il-

II In the same year a council was held in Rome by Pope Martin against

the Monotheletes.I1*:

" Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 442; Chr. 1234, 213. 10-19; Agapios, 220-1. b Cf. Mich.
Syr. ii. 431.

" The Lateran Council of 649.

[AM 6142, AD 649/50]

Constans, 9th year
Outhman, 5thyear
Paul, 10th year
Peter, 7th year

II In this year the commander (Bousour): invaded Isauria with his Arabs.
He slew and captured many men and returned with 5,000 prisoners.II-
The emperor Constans sent a certain Prokopios as ambassador to
Mauias to ask for peace, which was concluded for two years.: Mauias

was given Gregory, the son of Theodore, as a hostage at Damascus.II°

"Source unclear. Mich. Syr. ii. 446 mentions briefly a punitive raid into Isauria,
but after the naval battle of Phoinix. 6 Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 446; Chr. 1234, 213.
34-214. 2 (contemporary with the end of the Persian kingdom]. Neither mentions
Prokopios, who does appear in Ps.-Dion. 8, AG 964. Gregory is described in Chr. 1234

479

AM 6172, Chronographia

as filius Theodorici [sic] fzatris Heraclii. Michael calls him the son of the emperor's

brother. Agapios, 221-2, names Manuel as the Byzantine envoy.

Presumably Busr b. Abi Artat.

Dolger, Reg. 226 (AD 650). According to Sebeos, 132, peace was con-
cluded for three years, but whereas there he says that hostilities began again
in the 12th year of Constantine, on p. 139 he claims that peace was broken
in the nth year. See also P. Peeters, Byz 8 (1933), 411-12, who dates the
treaty to 649.

[AM 6143, AD 650/51]

Constans, 10th year
Outhman, 6thyear
Paul, 11th year
Peter, 8thyear

II In this year Pasagnathes,: the patrician of Armenia, rebelled against
the emperor and made a treaty with Mauias, to whom he handed his
own son. On hearing of this, the emperor went as far as Caesarea of

Cappadocia and, giving up all hope for Armenia, came back.Il

Cf. Agapios, 222 (4th year of XJthman).

" Cf. Peeters, op. cit. 405-23. According to Sebeos, 132 ff., the defection
of Armenia occurred in the 12th year of Constantine and was instigated by
Theodoros, lord of the Rstunis. Constantine advanced to Karin and Dvin
before returning home.

AM 6144 [AD 651/2]

Year of the divine Incarnation 644

Constans, emperor of the Romans (27 years), nth year
Outhman, leader of the Arabs (10 years), 7th year
Paul, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 12th year
Peter, bishop of Alexandria (10 years), 9th year

II In this year Gregory, the nephew of Herakleios, died at Helioupolis.
His body was embalmed and brought to Constantinople.II-
In the same year dust fell from the sky and great fear came upon

men.

Cf. Chr. 1234, 214. 2-4 (no mention of Helioupolis).

480

Chionogzaphia AM 6121

[AM 6145, AD 652-/3]

Constans, 12th year

Outhman, 8thyear

Paul dies and Pyrros is again reinstated for 4 months, 23 days; Peter,
bishop of Constantinople, (12 years), 1st year’

Peter, 10th year

II In this year Mauias took Rhodes and cast down the Colossus of
Rhodes 1,360 years after its erection.: It was bought by a Jewish mer-
chant of Edessa,’ who loaded the bronze on 900 camels.II:

In the same year Abibos,: the Arab general, invaded Armenia and,
having encountered Maurianus, the Roman general,: pursued him as

far as the Caucasus mountains and devastated the country.II

Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 442-3, with further details; Agapios, 222 (8th year of Uthman);
DAI, 21. 56 ff. with additional details about the Colossus. h Cf. Elias Nis. 66
(AH 31); Mich. Syr. ii. 441; Agapios, 223. The Syriac sources do not mention
Maurianus, but he is named by Sebeos, 138, 145-6.

Second tenure of Pyrros, 9 Jan.-i June 654. Peter was ordained on 8 or
15 June 654.

* The Arabs landed on Rhodes in about 653: Caetani, Chron. 339. The
story about the Colossus is probably legendary, although it is remarkable
that Michael's figure for its height (107 ft.) should tally exactly with that
given by ancient authorities: Strabo, 14. 2.5; Philo Byzantius, De septem
orbis spectaculis, 4. 1,3 (7ocubits). The Colossus was erected in 304-293 BC
and thrown down by earthquake in 228 BC. Its trunk, from the knees up,
was still lying on the ground at the time of Strabo. See, amongst others, R.
M. Berthold, Rhodes in the Hellenistic Age (Ithaca, NY, 1984), 80, 92. It is
inherently unlikely that it was still extant, much less standing (as Michael
implies) in the 7th cent. See further DAI, Commentary, 77 and Conrad,
‘Arwad', 400. Note, however, that the destruction of the Colossus in the
reign of Constans II is also reported by Kosmas of Jerusalem (8th cent.) in his
commentary on the poems of Gregory Nazianzen, PG 38: 534.

> Emesa according to Mich. Syr., who speaks of 3,000 loads of bronze.

* Habib b. Maslama.

> An ex-chartulary of the general Maurianus, who became a monk and
was known as Stephen of Byzantium, appears in an anecdote of Anastasios,
ed. F. Nau, Oriens Christianus, 2 (1902), 71-2, no. Xx.

[AM 6146, AD 653/4]

Constans, 13th year
Outhman, gthyear
Peter, 2nd year

481

am 6172, Chronographia

II In this year Mauias commanded that a great naval armament should
be made with a view to his fleet's sailing against Constantinople. The
entire preparation was being made at Tripolis in Phoenicia. On seeing
this, two Christ-loving brothers, the sons of a trumpeter, who lived at
Tripolis, were fired with a divine zeal and rushed to the city prison,
where there was a multitude of Roman captives. They broke down the
gates and, after liberating the captives, rushed to the emir of the city,
whom they slew together with his suite and, having burnt all the
equipment, sailed offto the Roman state. Even so, the preparation was
not abandoned; and while Mauias made an expedition against
Caesarea of Cappadocia,: he appointed Aboulauar: chief of the said
shipbuilding. This man arrived at Phoinix (as it is called) in Lycia, where
the emperor Constans lay with the Roman fleet, and engaged him in a
sea battle. As the emperor was about to fight on sea, he saw in a
dream that night that he was at Thessalonica. When he had awakened,
he related his vision to an interpreter of dreams, who said, 'Would, O
emperor, that you had not fallen asleep or seen a dream: for your
being at Thessalonica is interpreted as "Give victory to another",:
(that is) victory will go to your enemy.' Now the emperor, who had
taken no measures to draw up his battle line, ordered the Roman fleet
to fight. And when the two sides engaged, the Romans were defeated
and the sea was dyed with Roman blood. The emperor then put his
robes on another man; and the aforesaid trumpeter's son leapt into
the imperial ship and, snatching the emperor away, transferred him to
another ship, thus saving him unexpectedly. This courageous man then
stationed himself bravely on the imperial ship and killed many of the
enemy before giving up his life on behalf of the emperor. The enemy
surrounded him and held him in their midst, thinking he was the
emperor; and, after he had slain many of them, they killed him, too, as
the man who was wearing the imperial robes. Thus routed, the
emperor escaped and, leaving everyone behind, sailed off to

Constantinople.|l

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 445-6 (AG 966, AH 35, 10th year [sic] of Constans, 9th of
TJthman]; Chr. 1234, 214 (AG 966, AH 37, 13th year of Constans, 9th of Uthman). Both
add that Constans was accompanied by his brother Theodosios and that the Romans
lost 20,000 dead. Cf. also Elias Nis. 67 (AH 34); Agapios, 223-4.

dB prints BovKivaropos with a capital.

* This reference, absent from the parallel Syriac sources, is probably mis-
placed. Mich. Syr. ii. 441 describes an earlier expedition of Mu'awiya against
Caesarea.

> dB prints Aboulathar (from Anast.), but the reading of the Greek MSS
[AfiovXavap vel sim.. AfiovAaovap Kedr. i. 756. 1) is to be preferred, the name
being Abul-A\var. See Conrad, 'Arwad'’, 361.

482

Chronographia AM 6120

* ©es a\\ta viK-qv, a pun.
> On the battle of Phoinix (655) see Stratos, Studies, no.XII.

[AM 6147, ad 654/5]

Constans, 14th year
Outhman, 1oth year
Peter, 3rd year

llIn this year Outhman, the leader of the Arabs, was assassinated by
the inhabitants of Ethribos after he had been emir ten years. Now dis-
cord prevailed among the Arabs: for those who dwelt in the desert
wanted Ali, the nephew of Ali, Mouamed's son-in-law, whereas those
who were in Syria and Egypt wanted Mauias.II: The latter prevailed and

ruled twenty-four years.:

« Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 449-50 (AG 967, AH 35): Chr. 1234, 215. 1-216. 18 (more detailed);
Ps.-Dion. 8; Chr. 819, 8; Agapios, 224.

Counting from the murder of 'Uthman (656).

[AM 6148, AD 655/6]

Constans, 15th year
Mauias, leader of the Arabs (24 years), 1st year
Peter, 4th year

In this year Mauias took up arms against Ali. The two of them met in
the area of Barbalissos at Kaisarion' near the Euphrates; and the men
of Mauias, gaining the upper hand, captured the water [supply], while
Ali's men were reduced to thirst and were deserting. Mauias did not

wish to give battle and obtained victory without any toil.:

" The construction is unclear fava*eaov BapfiaXiooov els TO Kaioapiov).

* There appears to be no similar passage in the Syriac chronicles.
Barbalissos is Balis (Eski Meskene), while Kaisarion corresponds to
Neocaesarea (Prok. Aed. ii. 9. 10, 18), the same as the Kaisareia of George of
Cyprus, 882 (ed. Honigmann, 63), identified with Dibsi Faraj by R. P. Harper,
DOP 29 (1975), 322. The location indicated points to the famous battle of
Siffln (657), the toponym mentioned under AM 6151. See EI’, 'Siffin' (F.
Buhl); Dussaud, Topographie, 452-4.

347

am 6172, Chronographia

[AM 6149, AD 656/7]

Constans, 16th year
Mauias, 2nd year
Peter, 5th year

II In this year the emperor made an expedition against Sklavinia,' and
many he captured and subjected.il?

In the same year took place the affair of St Maximus and his dis-
ciples, who had struggled on behalf of the true faith against the
Monotheletes.* Being powerless to convert them to his heresy,
Constans cut off the tongue of this divinely wise and most learned
man as well as his right hand on account of his having written,
together with his disciples, the Anastasii, many works against his
impiety, [some of] which they composed in dialogue,’ as is known to
lovers of learning.

"Cf. Elias Nis. 68 (AH 39): Eo [012120] Constans rex Romanomm regiones Sclavomm
ingiessus pioelium fecit cum lege eoium et vicit eum et cum victoria exiit.

1. The name is here given in the singular (xaTci ZVAaiwias|. It is not clear
to us why Lemerle, Recueils, ii. 186, translates,'contre les Sklavinies'; sim-
ilarly, M. Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou in iyth International Byzantine
Congress: Major Papers (New Rochelle, 1986), 352. Later in Theoph. the
name appears in the plural, designating areas of Slavonic settlement.

* The ‘affair’ of Maximus and his two disciples, both named Anastasios,
was in fact spread over several years. Their judgement and punishment took
place at Constantinople in 662, after which they were exiled to Lazica. See
eg. VanDieten, Patriarchen, 114.

A Kal KAREVOS OVTO! yeypa*aaiv. Perhaps with reference to the so-called
Relatio motionis (PG 90: 109-29) and the Disputation at Bizye and Rhegion
(ibid. 136-72).

[AM 6150, AD 657/8]

Constans, 17th year
Mauias, 3rd year
Peter, 6thyear

II In this year peace was concluded between Romans and Arabsll: after
Mauias had sent an embassy, because of the rebellion, offering that
the Arabs should pay the Romans a daily tribute of 1,000 solidi, one
horse, and one slave.:

II In the same year there was a violent earthquake and buildings col-

lapsed in Syria and Palestine in the month of Daisios,Il* indiction 2.:

484

Chronographia AM6120

In the same year Martin, the most holy Pope of Rome, was exiled.*
He had struggled bravely for the truth and became a confessor. He
died in the Klimata of the East.’

° Cf. Elias Nis. 68 (AH 42 = AD 662/3). The expiration of the peace after 7 years (sic)
is mentioned by Mich. Syr. ii. 450 (AG 980). > Cf. Elias Nis. 68 (AH 39, June);
Chi. Maion. 54 (AG 970, 17th year of Constans, June, a Friday).

The civil war with ‘Air.

* The peace, concluded for 3 years (Dolger, reg. 230), is usually dated to
659. The sources are set out by Stratos, iv. 290.

3 June 659.

* Pope Martin was removed from Rome in June 653, brought to
Constantinople in Sept. of the same year, exiled to Cherson in May 655. He
died in 656.

5 See AM 6r2r, n. 16.

[AM 6151, AD 658/9]

Constans, 18thyear
Mauias, 4th year
Peter, 7th year

This year Constans killed his own brother Theodosios.II:
While the Arabs were at Sapphin,: Ali (the one from Persia) was
assassinated: and Mauias became sole ruler. He established his kingly

residence at Damascus and deposited there his treasure of money.I}:

a Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 446; Elias Nis. 68 (AH 39); Chi. Maion. 55 (AG 970, 17th year of
Constans). > Cf. Mich. Syr. IL,.50; Elias Nis. 68 (AH 40); Chi. 1234, 218 (murder
of 'All at Kiifaj, 219 (transfer of treasure to Damascus); Chi. 819, 8 (AG 971, 'All killed);
Chi. Maion. 54 (‘All killed at Hfrta).

" Siffin. See AM 6148, n. 2. > In 661.

[AM 6152, AD 659/60]

Constans, 19 thyear
Mauias, 5th year
Peter, 8thyear

IlThis year there arose among the Arabs a heresy, that of the so-called
Charourgites.ll: Mauias captured them, and he humiliated the men of
Persia, while exalting those of Syria:ll* the latter he called Isamites and
the former Herakites. The wages of the Isamites he raised to 200 solidi,

while those of the Herakites he lowered to 30 solidi.”

485

am 6172, Chronographia

Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 450 (Harurites, named after the village of Harura'); Agapios, 227.
b Cf. Agapios, 227.

" Here spelled Xapovpytrcu, elsewhere ApovpiTai (AM 6236, 6239, 6258).
Named after the village of Harura’ near Kiifa, these were followers of ‘All
who seceded because of their opposition to the arbitration of Siffin. Later
they were known as Kharidjis. See EP, s.v. Harura’ and Kharidjites. They
staged several uprisings in Iraq during Mu'awiya's reign.

Isamites and Herakites refer to Syrians (men of al-Sam) and Iraqis. We
have found no other authority for the differential in wages.

[AM 6153, AD 660/1]

Constans, 2oth year
Mauias, 6thyear
Peter, 9thyear

IiThis year the emperor abandoned Constantinople and moved to
Syracuse in Sicily, intending to transfer the imperial capital to Rome.:
He sent an order that his wife and his three sons, Constantine,
Herakleios, and Tiberius, should be brought over, but the inhabitants

of Byzantium did not let them go.ll:

Cf. Chr. 1234, 219-20.

* The date of his departure from Constantinople is uncertain. He reached
S. Italy in the spring of 663 after spending a fairly long time in Greece: Lib.
Pont. i. 343; Paul. Diac. Hist. Lang. v. 11.

[AM 6154, AD 661/2]

Constans 21st year
Mauias, 7thyear
Peter, 10th year

In this year the Arabs made an expedition against the Roman state.

They made many captives and devastated many places.:

" With reference either to the raid of AH 42 (662/3) OR that of AH 43 (663/4),
led by Busr b. Abf Artat, Tabari, xviii. 20, 32: Brooks, 'Arabs', 184. For the
latter cf. Elias Nis. 68.

486

Chronographia AM 6120

[AM 6155, AD 662/3]

Constans 22nd year
Mauias, 8th year
Peter, nth year

In this year part of Sicily was captured. The captives were settled at

Damascus of their own free will.:

" An Arab raid on Syracuse is recorded by Lib. Pont. i. 346 during the
reign of Pope Adeodatus (672-6), whence Paul. Diac. Hist. Lang. v. 13, p.
150. Cf. M. Amari, Storia dei Musulmani di Sicilia, ed. C. A. Nallino
(Catania 1933-9), i- 2,05216 f. Theophanes is certainly wrong in placing
this event before the murder of Constans II.

[AM 6156, AD 663/4]

Constans 23rd year
Mauias, 9thyear
Peter, 12th year

II In this year there occurred a confusion concerning the date of Lent.1l

1lAbderachman, son of Chaled, invaded the Roman state, wintered
in it, and devastated many lands.II: The Sklavinians joined him and
went down with him to Syria, 5,000 of them, and were settled in the

village Seleukobolos: in the region of Apameia.

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 451 (AG 976, AH 44, 23rd year of Constans, 5th of Mu'awiya); Chr.
1234, 220. > Cf. Chi. Maion. 56-7 (AG 975, 22nd year of Constans, 7th of
Mu'awiya, with many details); Elias Nis. 69 (AH 441; Chr. 819, 8 has Abd al-Rahman
spend two years in Roman territory. Tabari, xviii. 71, 87 records raids by Abd al-
Rahman b. Khalid in AH 44 and 45 (664/S, 665/6). Cf. Brooks, 'Arabs', 184-5.

Recte Seleukobelos, that is Seleukeia ad Belum (Seluqiye). See Dussaud,
Topographie, 155 ff. and Honigmann's note to Hierokles, 712. 9. The men-
tion of Slavs is noteworthy, but it is not clear where the Arabs found them.
‘Abd al-Rahman's march extended as far as Smyrna by way of Amorion and
Pessinus according to Chr. Maron. loc. cit.

[AM 6157, AD 664/5]

Constans, 24th year
Mauias, iothyear
Thomas, bishop of Constantinople (3 years), ist year’

In this year Bousour invaded the Roman state.: Thomarichos, bishop of

Apameia,: died and the bishop of Emesa was burnt.

487

349

AM6172, Chronographia

* Thomas II (17 Apr. 667-15 Nov. 669). See Van Dieten, Patriaichen,
117-20.

* A raid of Busr b. Abu Artat is recorded in AH 43 (663/4) by Elias Nis. 68
(cf. above, AM 6154). Arabic sources speak of two expeditions led by him, in
AH 43, 44, and later: Brooks, 'Arabs', 184.

3 Presumably the one mentioned under AM 6140.

[am 6158, ad 665/6]

Constans, 25th year
Mauias, nth year
Thomas, 2nd year

In this year Bousour once again invaded the Roman state and devas-

tated the region of Hexapolis.: Phadalas wintered there.:

In Cappadocia (former Armenia II). See V. Tourneur in Melanges Bidez,
ii (1934), 947-52; F. Hild and M. Restle, Kappadokien, TIB 2, 71 f., 191.
* This appears to anticipate the events narrated in the next entry. The
first raid by Fadalah b. 'Ubaid is placed in AH 49 (669/70) by Elias Nis. 69 and
Arabic sources (Brooks, 'Arabs', 185-6).

[AM 6159, AD 666/7]

Constans, 26th year
Mauias, 12thyear
Thomas, 3rd year

I In this year the strategos of the Armeniacs, Saborios, who was of
Persian origin,’ rebelled against the emperor Constans and sent to
Mauias the commander Sergius, promising Mauias to subjugate the
Roman state if the latter would fight along with him against the
emperor. When Constantine, the emperor's son, had learnt of this, he,
too, sent an emissary to Mauias, namely the _ cubicularius Andrew,
bearing gifts, so that Mauias should not co-operate with the rebel.
When Andrew had reached Damascus, he found that Sergius had
anticipated him; as for Mauias, he pretended to be sympathetic to the
emperor. Sergius was seated in front of Mauias, and when Andrew
entered, Sergius, on seeing him, got up. Mauias upbraided Sergius,
saying, 'Why were you afraid?' Sergius excused himself, saying he had
done so out of habit. Turning to Andrew, Mauias asked, 'What are you
seeking?' He replied, 'That you should give help against the rebel.'
The other said, 'Both of you are my enemies. To the one that gives me

more I will give help.' Then Andrew said to him, 'Be not in doubt, O

488

Chionogzaphia AM 6121

Emir: a few things from an emperor are more advantageous to you
than a great many from a rebel. However, do as you please.' Having
said these things, Andrew fell silent. Mauias said, 'lam thinking it over';
and he bade both of them go out. Then Mauias summoned Sergius in
private and said to him, 'You will no longer do obeisance to Andrew,
since by so doing you will achieve nothing.'

The next day Sergius anticipated Andrew and was seated in front of
Mauias. When Andrew entered, he did not arise as on the previous
day. Looking round at Sergius, Andrew cursed him mightily and threat-
ened him, saying, 'If I remain alive, I will show you who I am.' Sergius
replied, 'I am not getting up for you because you are neither a man nor
a woman.' Mauias stopped both of them and said to Andrew,
‘Undertake to give me as much as Sergius is giving me.'—'And how
much is that?' asked Andrew. Mauias replied, 'To give to the Arabs the
tax revenue.' Andrew said, 'Woe to you, O Mauias! You are advising
me to give you the body and keep the shadow. Make any agreement
you wish with Sergius; for I will do no such thing. However, disregard-
ing you, we shall have recourse to God, who has more power than you
to defend the Romans, and we shall place our hopes in Him.' After
these words he said to Mauias, 'Farewell.' And he departed from
Damascus in the direction of Melitene along the road that Sergius, too,
was about to travel because the rebel dwelt in those parts. When he
had reached Arabissos, he met the commander of the pass,: who had
not joined the rebel, and ordered him to be on the look-out for Sergius
when the latter would be returning, so as to hand him over to him. And
he himself proceeded to Amnesia: to await Sergius and reported to
the emperor what had taken place. Now Sergius, after making a
covenant with Mauias as he saw fit, took along the Arab general
Phadalas with a force of barbarians to fight on the side of Saborios.
Sergius was travelling in front of Phadalas and, as he was proceeding
joyfully to meet Saborios, he fell into Andrew's trap in the passes. They
seized him and brought him prisoner to Andrew. When Sergius saw
Andrew, he fell at his feet, begging him to spare his life. But Andrew
said to him, 'Are you the Sergius who took pride in his private parts in
front of Mauias and called me effeminate? Behold, from now on your
private parts will be of no benefit to you. Nay, they will cause your
death.' Having said this, he ordered that Sergius' private parts should
be cut off, and he hanged him on a gibbet.II-

HWhen Constantine had been informed ofthe arrival of Phadalas to
assist Saborios, he sent the patrician Nikephoros with a Roman force
to oppose Saborios. Now Saborios was at Adrianoupolis: and, when
he had learnt that Nikephoros was marching against him, he trained

himself for battle. It happened that one day he was going out of the

489

350

351

AM 6172, Chronographia

town on horseback as was his custom. When he came near the town
gate, he struck his horse with his whip. The horse became restive and
dashed his head against the gate, thus causing him to die miserably. In
this way God granted victory to the emperor.

So when Phadalas had come to the Hexapolis and learnt everything,
he was in a quandary, and sent a message tO Mauias, asking for help,
seeing that the Romans had healed their rift. Mauias sent him his son
Izid with an armed force of numerous barbarians. The two of them
came to Chalcedon and made many captives.II: They also took
Amorion in Phrygia and, after leaving there a guard of 5,000 armed
men, returned to Syria. When winter had fallen, the emperor sent
the same cubicularius Andrew, and he reached Amorion at night
when there was much snow. He and his men climbed on the wall
with the help of planks and entered Amorion. They killed all the
Arabs, all 5,000 of them, and not one or them was left.

IiThe same winter there was a flood at Edessa and many men per-

ished.Il: A sign also appeared in the sky.

Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 451-4 (AG 977, 26th year of Constans); Chi. 1234, 220-3 (closer
to Theoph.); Agapios, 228 (incomplete). >’ Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 454 (more suc-
cinct); Chi. 1234, 223; Agapios, 229 (closest to Theoph.). ¢ Cf. Mich. Syr. ii.
451 (AG 977); Chi. 1234 (same year, 4 Nov.); Agapios, 229.

Called Sabur Aprasit'gan by Mich. Syr. ii. 451. Cf. P. Peeters, Byz 8

(1933), 406.

* KXeioovpocfyvXa.". an officer, independent of the local strategos, who
commanded a strategic pass. On the kleisomai of Asia Minor see J. Ferluga,
ZRVI6 (1975), 9-23-

3 Unidentified.

* No Hadrianopolis is known in Cappadocia. Tourneur, Melanges Bidez,
ii. 949, believes this was Hadrianopolis of Pisidia (on which see TIB 7:
171-2) on the assumption that Sabur had left the region of Melitene and was
advancing on Constantinople. Note that Agapios calls it Awdina.

AM 6160 [AD 667/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 660

Constans, 27th year

Mauias, 13th year

John, bishop of Constantinople (6 years), 1st year’

lliIn this year the emperor Constans was assassinated in Syracuse of
Sicily, in a bathil Called Daphne. The reason for this was the follow-
ing. After the murder of his brother Theodosios he was hated by the
people of Byzantium, particularly because he had also brought igno-

490

Chronographia AM 6161

miniously to Constantinople Martin, the most holy Pope of Rome,
and exiled him to the Klimata of Cherson; because he had cut off the
tongue and hand of the most learned confessor Maximus, and had
condemned many of the orthodox to torture, banishment, and con-
fiscation of property for not accepting his heresy; because he had
subjected to exile and torture the two Anastasii, who were disciples
of Maximus, the confessor and martyr. For these reasons he was
greatly hated by all; and it was out of fright that he intended to trans-
fer the seat of the Empire to Rome. He accordingly wished to remove
the empress and his three sons, but his design was thwarted by the
cubicularius Andrew and Theodore of Koloneia. And so he spent six
years in Sicily. TiAnd when he had entered the aforesaid bath, he was
accompanied by a certain Andrew, son of Troilos,: who was his atten-
dant. As he began to smear himself with soap, Andrew picked up a
bucket, struck the emperor on the head and immediately escaped.
And as the emperor had been in the bath for a long time, those who
were outside rushed in and found him dead. After burying him, they
made emperor by constraint a certain Mizizios, an Armenian; for he
was very comely and handsome. When Constantine had heard of his
father's demise, he arrived in Sicily with a great fleet and, having cap-
tured Mizizios, put him to death together with his father's murderers.
After establishing order in the West, he hastened to Constantinople
and reigned over the Romans together with his brothers Tiberius and

Herakleios.II:

a~b Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 450-1 (AG 980); Chr. 1234, 223-4 (AG 980, 27th year of
Constans, 9th of Mu'awiya); Agapios, 230-1 and the remarks of P. Peeters, AnBoll 51
(19331, 228-31.

* John V (Nov. 669-Aug. 675).

* Cf. the seal of Troilos, patrician, in Seibt, Bleisiegel, no. 132.

3 E. W. Brooks, BZ 17 (1908), 455-9, denies the historicity of
Constantine's Sicilian expedition.

[AM 6161, AD 668/9]

Constantine, emperor of the Romans (17 years), 1st year
Mauias, 14thyear
John, 2nd year

II In this year Constantine became emperor together with his brothers.

The Saracens invaded Africa and made, it is said, 80,000 captives.II-
Now the men of the Anatolic thema came to Chrysopolis, saying,

"We believe in the Trinity. Let us crown all three!’ Constantine was

491

352

353

AM 6172, Chronographia

troubled, since he alone had been crowned, whereas his brothers had
no dignity whatever.’ So he dispatched to them Theodore, the patri-
cian of Koloneia, who deceived them with words of praise and took
along their leaders that they might enter the City and confer with
the Senate so as to carry out their wishes. Straight away the emperor
impaled them across the water at Sykai. When they had seen this
and been shamed, the Anatolics returned home in dejection. The
emperor, for his part, cut off his brothers’ noses.”

" Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 454; Chi. 1234, 224; Agapios, 231 (100,000 captives].

* Untrue: they were crowned in 659 as shown by the acts of the Council
of 680, Mansi, xi. 209A, 217A, etc. = ACO 2nd ser. ii/r (1990), 14, 26, etc.

* This entry, derived from a Greek source, contradicts AM 6173 and is
clearly misplaced. The deposition of Constantine's brothers took place in
the latter part of 681 and the revolt of the Anatolic troops very shortly there-
after as proved by Brooks, EHR 30 (1915), 42-51. Mich. Syr. ii. 455-6 and
Chr. 1234, 225 (who also record the exclamation about the Trinity) are
nearer the truth. Note that Geo. Mon. 728, while paraphrasing the text of
Theoph., places the incident after the Arab blockade of Constantinople.

am 6162 [ad 669/70]

Year of the divine Incarnation 662

Constantine, emperor of the Romans (17 years), 2nd year
Mauias, leader of the Arabs (24 years), 15 th year

John, bishop of Constantinople (6 years), 3rd year

II In this year there was a severe cold, and many men as well as beasts

suffered hardship.Il; Phadalas wintered at Kyzikos.:

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 456 (AG 980; olive trees and vines withered in Syria and
Mesopotamia); Agapios 231; Chi. 819, 8 (AG 976).

" Raids by Fadala b. 'Ubaid, the first by sea, are recorded in AH 50 (670/1)
and 51 (671/2), Tabarf, xviii. 96, 122: Brooks, 'Arabs', 186.

[am 6163, ad 670/71]

Constantine, 3rd year
Mauias, i6thyear
John, 4th year

In this year Bousour made an expedition and, after taking many cap-

tives, returned home.:

" Raids by Busr are recorded in AH 50 and 5r (670/1 and 671/2): Elias Nis.
70, Tabari, xviii. 96, 122: Brooks, ‘Arabs’, 186.

492

Chronographia AM 6120

[AM 6164, AD 671/2]

Constantine, 4th year
Mauias, 17th year
John, 5thyear

II In this year, in the month of Dystros (March), a rainbow appeared in
the sky, and all men shuddered and said it was the end ofthe world.II-
In this year the deniers of Christ equipped a great fleet, and after
they had sailed past Cilicia, Mouamed, son of Abdelas, wintered at
Smyrna, while Kaisos’ wintered in Cilicia and Lycia. mA plague
occurred in Egypt.11° The emir Chale? was also sent to assist them
inasmuch as he was a competent and bold warrior. The aforesaid
Constantine, on being informed of so great an expedition of God's
enemies against Constantinople, built large biremes bearing caul-
drons of fire and dromones equipped with siphons,’ and ordered
them to be stationed at the Proclianesian harbour‘ of Caesarius.| 1‘

a Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 456 (AG 989, in the 3rd watch of the night, hence the fear); Chr.
ii}4, 224. (4th year of Constantine, 4th watch of the night); Agapios, 231 (13th year
of Mu'awiya). > Cf. Agapios, 232. ¢ Cf. Nik. 34. 2 ff.

* These names appear to be garbled. Arabic sources mention, among com-
manders active during this period, Muhammad b. Abd al-Rahman,
Muhammad b. Malik, and Abdallah b. Qays (for the last cf. AM 6166): Brooks,
‘Arabs’, 186-7.

* Presumably Khalid (not mentioned in Arabic sources); Nik. 34. 6 has
Chaleb (Chaleph in London MS).

3 See AM 6165, n. 5. The 'siphons'were probably pumps for the propulsion
of 'Greek fire’.

* The harbour of Caesarius was the same as the Theodosian harbour on
the Propontis side of Constantinople. The designation Proclianesian (pre-
sumably after a person called Proclianus) remains unexplained.

[AM 6165, AD 672/3]

Constantine, 5th year
Mauias, 18th year
John, 6thyear

u In this year the aforesaid fleet of God's enemies set sail and came to
anchor in the region of Thrace, btween the western point of the
Hebdomon, that is the Magnaura, as it is called, and the eastern
promontory, named Kyklobion.’ Every day there was a military
engagement from morning until evening, between the brachialion’ of
the Golden Gate and the Kyklobion,with thrust and counter-thrust.

493

354

am 6172, Chronographia

The enemy kept this up from the month of April until September.
Then, turning back, they went to Kyzikos, which they captured, and
wintered there. And in the spring they set out and, in similar fashion,
made war on sea against the Christians. After doing the same for
seven years? and being put to shame with the help of God and His
Mother; having, furthermore, lost a multitude of warriors and had a
great many wounded, they turned back with much sorrow. And as
this fleet (which was to be sunk by God) put out to sea, it was over-
taken by a wintry storm and the squalls of a hurricane in the area of
Syllaion. It was dashed to pieces and perished entirely.I\*

Now Souphian, the younger son of Auph,: joined battle with Florus,
Petronas, and Cyprian, who were at the head of a Roman force, and
30,000 Arabs were killed.I}

At that time Kallinikos, an architect from Helioupolis in Syria, took
refuge with the Romans and manufactured a naval fire with which he
kindled the ships of the Arabs and burnt them with their crews.: In this

way the Romans came back in victory and acquired the naval fire.]l

"Cf. Nik. 34. 6-21. Zon. iii. 224 adds that the Arab fleet was also attacked by the
strategos of the Kibyrrhaiots. b Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 455; Agapios, 232 (the engage-
ment took place in Lycia). ¢ Cf. Mich. Syr. and Agapios, locc. citt.

For a plan of the area see Demangel, Hebdomon, fig. 1. The Magnaura
(presumably from magna aula) should not be confused with a building of the
same name in the Great Palace. The promontory of the Kyklobion corre-
sponds to modern Zeytinburnu. See Van Millingen, a: cp 327, and
Demangel, 47-8. Cf. also below, AM 6209.

Presumably an outwork (cf. the military sense of Lat. sracchium) cov-
ering the juncture between the land and sea walls. Chron. Pasch. 719. 15,
with reference to the siege of 626, says that the Chagan set up engines awo
/3paxiaAtou Kal e'cos — fipax>a-\iov that is along the whole stretch from the
Propontis to the Golden Horn. In mir. s. Demetri, p. 215. 18, a similar fea-
ture at Thessalonica is called fipaxiovLov.

3 It is usually held that the ‘siege’ of Constantinople lasted not seven
years but five (674-8). In fact, there was no siege but a series of engagements,
which, if Arabic sources are to be believed, may have started as early as 669.
For the chronology see Lilie, 76 n. 6r.

4 Sufyan b. 'Awf is repeatedly mentioned in the campaigns of AH 50, 52,
and 55: Tabari, xviii. 96, 165,180. His death in Roman territory is, however,
reported in AH 52.

> Theoph. fails to explain that the first use of 'Greek fire’ was allegedly
directed against an Arab fleet that had attacked a coastal town of Lycia (in
671 according to Mich. Syr.) and appears to have overlooked the previous
entry (AM 6164), which records that warships stationed at Constantinople
had already been equipped with the new weapon. For modern bibliography
on 'Greek fire’, see ops s.v.

494

Chionogzaphia AM 6121

[AM 6166, AD 673/4]

Constantine, 6th year
Mauias, 19 th year
Constantine, bishop of Constantinople (2 years), 1st year’

Il In this year Abdelas, the son of Kais, and Phadalas wintered in

Crete.Il»

" Cf. Elias Nis. 70 (AH 55; no mention of Crete).

* Constantine I (. Sept. 675-9 Aug. 677): Van Dieten, Patharchen, 123-4.

* This incident is not recorded elsewhere. Tabari, xviii. 166, 172, speaks
of the conquest of Rhodes by Junadah in an 53 (672/3) and of Arwad, an
island near Constantinople (!) in ax 54 (673/4). Cf. Tsougarakis, Crete, 23.

[AM 6167, AD 674/5]

Constantine, 7th year
Mauias, 20th year
Constantine, 2nd year

II In this year a sign appeared in the sky on a Saturday.II-

" Cf. Elias Nis. 70 (AH 56 from 16 Aug. to 26 Oct.); Mich. Syr. ii. 456 (AG 988).

[AM 6168, AD 675/6]

Constantine, 8 th year
Mauias 21st year
Theodore, bishop of Constantinople (2 years), 1st year’

Il In this year there was a great plague of locusts in Syria and

Mesopotamia.II:
a Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 457 (AG 990).

" Theodore I, first tenure (Aug./Sept. 677-Nov./Dec. 679): Van Dieten,
Patriarchen, 125-9.

AM 6169 [AD 676/7]

Year of the divine Incarnation 669

Constantine, emperor of the Romans (17 years), 9th year
Mauias, leader of the Arabs (24 years), 22nd year
Theodore, bishop of Constantinople (2 years), 2nd year

495

am 6172, Chronographia

II In this year the Mardaites: entered the Lebanon range and made
themselves masters from the Black Mountain: as far as the Holy City
and captured the peaks of Lebanon. Many slaves, captives, and natives
took refuge with them, so that in a short time they grew to many thou-
sands.11- When Mauias and his advisers had learnt of this, they were
much afraid, realizing that the Roman Empire was guarded by God.
So he sent ambassadors to the emperor Constantine, asking for peace
and promising to pay yearly tribute to the emperor. Upon receiving
these ambassadors and hearing their request, the emperor dis-
patched with them to Syria the patrician John, surnamed
Pitzigaudes, a man of ancient lineage in the state and possessed of
much experience and excellent judgement, that he might parley
suitably with the Arabs and conclude a treaty of peace. When this
man had arrived in Syria, Mauias gathered a group of emirs and
Korasenoi and received him with great honour. After exchanging
many conciliatory speeches, they mutually agreed to draw up a writ-
ten treaty of peace under oath, stipulating a yearly tribute of 3,000
[pieces] of gold,? fifty captives, and fifty thoroughbred horses to be
paid by the Hagarenes to the Roman state. These conditions having
been approved by both sides for a duration of thirty years, complete
peace prevailed between the Romans and the Arabs. After these two
written treaties* had been mutually sworn and exchanged, the oft-
mentioned illustrious man? returned to the emperor with many
gifts.

When the inhabitants of the West had learnt of this, namely the
Chagan of the Avars as well as the kings, chieftains, and castaldi®
who lived beyond them, and the princes of the western nations, they
sent ambassadors and gifts to the emperor, requesting that peace and
friendship should be confirmed with them. The emperor acceeded to
their demands and ratified an imperial peace with them also. Thus
great security prevailed in both East and West.ll"

2 Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 455; cw 1234, 224 (both in the 9th year of Constantine);
Agapios, 232-3 (17th year of Mu'awiya). > Cf. Nik. 34. 21-37.

* An Irano-Armenian tribe according to H. M. Bartikian in Byzantium:
Tribute to A. N. Stratos, i (Athens, 1986), 17-39.

* The Amanus.

3 Or possibly Ibs. (xpvoov xiAiaSas mei) seeing that the sum of 3,000
solidi appears too low. MSS e, m have 365,000 instead of 3,000, confirmed
at AM 6176. Nik. gives the same figures as Theoph., but the quotation from
the latter in par 21. 15-16 has 800 instead of 50 prisoners. For the peace
treaty, which is not mentioned in Syriac sources, cf. Dolger, reg. 239, who
dates it to 678; Stratos, v. 51 ff.

496

Chronographia AM 6120

* i.e. two copies of the same treaty.

> Clearly, he must have been mentioned several times previously in the
source Theoph. is following.

° Or gastaa, a Lombard term for local governors acting on behalf of the
king.

AM 6170 [AD 677/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 670

Constantine, iothyear

Mauias 23rd year

George, bishop of Constantinople (6 years), 1st year’

II In this year a severe earthquake occurred in Mesopotamia, asa result
of which Batnai: and the dome of the church of Edessa: fell down.

Mauias rebuilt the latter by the zeal of the Christians.I]-

Cf. Ps.-Dion. 9 (3 Apr. AGggo); Chr. 819, 8, Chr. 846, 175,- Mich. Syr. ii. 457; Chr.
ri34, 224. (for a.950 read 9901.

" George I (Dec. 679-Feb. 686): Van Dieten, Patriarchen, 130-45.

* Not capitalized by dB (To j3aRAv).

3 The cathedral of Edessa, reconstructed as a domed building by Justinian
after its destruction by flood in 525, is described in a Syriac hymn, on which
see K. E. McVey, pop 37 (1983), 91-121.

[AM 6171, AD 678/9]

Constantine, 1th year
Mauias, 24 thyear
George, 2nd year

II In this year Mauias, the Caliph: ofthe Saracens, died on the 6th ofthe
month Artemisios, indiction 1.: He had been military commander 20
years and emir 24 years. His son Izid assumed power.II:

Illn this year,? too, the tribe of the Bulgars assailed Thrace. It is
now necessary to relate the ancient history of the Ounnogoundour
Bulgars* and Kotragoi. On the northern, that is the far side of the
Euxine Sea, is the so-called Maeotid Lake into which flows a huge
river called Atel,> which comes down from the Ocean through the
land of the Sarmatians. The Atel is joined by the river Tanais, which
also rises from the Iberian Gates that are in the mountains of
Caucasus. From the confluence of the Tanais and the Atel (it is
above the aforementioned Maeotid Lake that the Atel splits off)
flows the river called Kouphis® which discharges into the far end of

497

357

358

am6172, Chronographia

the Pontic Sea near Nekropela/ by the promontory called Ram's
Head.* From the aforesaid lake is a stretch of sea like a river which
joins the Euxine through the land of the Cimmerian Bosphorus,’ in
which river are caught the so-called mouzzoulin” and similar fish.
Now on the eastern side of the lake that lies above, in the direction
of Phanagouria and of the Jews that live there, march a great many
tribes; whereas, starting from the same lake in the direction of the
river called Kouphis” (where the Bulgarian fish called xystozi is
caught)” is the old Great Bulgaria and the so-called Kotragoi, who
are of the same stock as the Bulgars.

In the days of Constantine, who dwelt in the West, Krobatos,”? the
chieftain of the aforesaid Bulgaria and of the Kotragoi, died leaving
five sons, on whom he enjoined not to depart under any circum-
stances from their common life that they might prevail in every way
and not be enslaved by another tribe. A short time after his demise,
however, his five sons fell out and parted company, each with the
host that was subject to him. The eldest son, called Batbaian,
observed his father's command and has remained until this day in
his ancestral land. His younger brother, called Kotragos, crossed the
river Tanais and dwelt opposite his eldest brother. The fourth and
fifth went over the river Istros, that is the Danube: the former
became subject of the Chagan of the Avars in Avar Pannonia and
remained there with his army, whereas the latter reached the
Pentapolis, which is near Ravenna, and accepted allegiance to the
Christian Empire.’* Coming after them, the third brother, called
Asparouch, crossed the Danapris and Danastris (rivers that are far-
ther north than the Danube)” and, on reaching the Oglos,” settled
between the former and the latter, since he judged that place to be
secure and impregnable on both sides: on the near side it is marshy,
while on the far side it is encircled by the rivers. It thus provided
ample security from enemies to this tribe that had been weakened
by its division.

When they had thus divided into five parts and been reduced to a
paltry estate, the great nation of the Chazars issued forth from the
inner depths of Berzilia,’” that is from the First Sarmatia, and con-
quered all the country beyond the sea as far as the Sea of Pontos,- and
they subjugated the eldest brother Batbaian, chieftain of the First
Bulgaria, from whom they exact tribute to this day.” Now, when
the emperor Constantine had been informed that a foul and unclean
tribe had settled beyond the Danube at the Oglos and was overrun-
ning and laying waste the environs of the Danube, that is the coun-
try that is now in their possession, but was then in Christian hands,
he was greatly distressed and ordered all the themata to cross over

498

Chronographia AM 6120

to Thrace. He fitted out a fleet and moved against them by land and
sea in an attempt to drive them away by force of arms; and he drew
up his infantry on the land that faces the so-called Oglos and the
Danube, while he anchored his ships by the adjoining shore. When
the Bulgars had seen the sudden arrival of this enormous armament,
they despaired of their safety and took refuge in the aforementioned
fastness, where they made themselves secure. For three or four days
they did not dare come out of their fastness, nor did the Romans join
battle on account of the marshes that lay before them. Perceiving,
therefore, the sluggishness of the Romans, the foul tribe was revived
and became bolder. Now the emperor developed an acute case of
gout and was constrained to return to Mesembria together with five
dromones and his retinue so as to have the use of a bath. He left
behind the commanders and the army, whom he ordered to make
simulated attacks so as to draw the Bulgars out of their fastness and
so engage them in battle if they happened to come out; and if not, to
besiege them and keep watch over the defences. But the cavalrymen
spread the rumour that the emperor was fleeing and, being seized by
fear, they, too, fled, although no one was pursuing them. When
the Bulgars saw this, they gave pursuit and put most of them to the
sword and wounded many others. They chased them as far as the
Danube, which they crossed and came to Varna, as it is called, near
Odyssos and the inland territory that is there. They perceived that
this place was very secure, being guarded at the rear by the river
Danube, in front and on the sides by means of mountain passes and
the Pontic Sea. Having, furthermore, subjugated the so-called Seven
Tribes of the neighbouring Sklavinian nations,” they settled the
Severeis from the forward mountain pass of Beregaba™ in the direc-
tion of the east, and the remaining six tribes, which were tributary
to them, in the southern and western regions as far as the land of the
Avars. Having thus extended their domains, they grew arrogant and
began to attack and capture the forts and villages that belonged to
the Roman state. Being under constraint, the emperor made peace
with them and agreed to pay them yearly tribute. Thus the Romans
were put to shame for their many sins.II

Both those who lived afar and those who lived near were aston-
ished to hear that he who had subjugated everyone, those in the east
and in the west, in the north and in the south, was vanquished by
this foul and newly-arisen tribe. But he believed that this had hap-
pened to the Christians by God's providence and made peace in the
spirit of the Gospels; and until his death he remained undisturbed by
all his enemies. His particular concern was to unite God's holy
churches which had been everywhere divided from the days of the

499

359

am6172, Chronographia

emperor Herakleios, his great grandfather, and of the heretical
Sergius and Pyrros, who had unworthily presided over the see of
Constantinople and had taught one will and one energy in our Lord
God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Being anxious to refute their evil
beliefs, the same most Christian emperor convened at Constan-
tinople an ecumenical council of 289 bishops. He confirmed the doc-
trines previously established by the five earlier holy and ecumenical
councils and joined in promulgating the pious dogma of the two
wills and two energies at this holy and most accurate Sixth ecu-
menical Council,I 1° which was presided by the same most pious
emperor Constantine and the pious bishops.”

"Cf. Chr. 819, 8 (AG 991); Chr. 846, 175; Mich. Syr. ii. 468 (AG 992, AH 63; he had
governed Syria 21 years and reigned 20 years); Chr. 1234, 224-5 (ah 59i nth year of
Constantine); Agapios, 233 (Sunday 6 May, AG 991; he had been emir 20 years and
reigned 20 years); Elias Nis. 71 (AH 60). b Cf. Nik. 35. © Cf. Nik. 37.
6-10.

* TI pwroovf-ifiovAos: according to Reiske, cer. ii. 806-7, this is a mistaken
rendering of Amir al-Umara (commander-in-chief), the 8th form of the verb
amara (to command), meaning ‘to take counsel’. Examples of the Greek
term, which entered diplomatic usage, are collected in A. Kazhdan in zu
Alexander d. Gr‘ Festschrift. G. ~~ Wirth ~(Amsterdam, 1988), 1203L, i208f.
The rendering of amir as av*ouXos is quite early seeing that it occurs in an
inscription dated 662 from the baths of Gadara and in documents of the late
7th cent.: J. Green and Y. Tsafrir, my 32 (1982), 9sfI. Hasson, ibid., 100,
Excavations at Nessana, ili: Non-literary Papyri, ed. Cc. J. Kraemer
(Princeton, 1958), nos. 58. 10, 75. 3, etc.

* The ind. corresponding to AM 6171 is 7. The correct indiction for
Mu'awiya's death (680) would have been 8. Arabic sources record it in the
month of Rajab (7 Apr.-6 May): Tabari, xviii. 210-11.

3 Or ‘at this time’ (rouroy To! xpovgi).

* The Onogundurs were a tribe of the Bulgars. Cf. V. Besevliev, res 28
(1970), 153-9; BvtavTiva 13/1 (1985), 48-9. Nik. 35. 1 has, presumably
incorrectly, Ovwtov KO! — BovXyapuiv.

> The Volga, which, of course, neither flows into the Sea of Azov nor
unites with the Don (Tanais). Cf. Moravesik, Byzantinoturcica ii. 78-9, $.V.

° Usually identified with the Kuban. Cf. p4%, Commentary, 155. Here,
however, it seems to refer to a river west of the Crimean peninsula (the
Bug?).

7 The Karkinitic Gulf between the Crimean peninsula and the mouth of
the Dnieper, hence a great distance from the Kuban. Cf. par 42. 69, 79
(spelled NekpoTr-gxa, NOt NeKpoirvta in the best MS) and infra, AM 6196.

’ The southern promontory of the Crimean peninsula, called xpw
baTujTTov in antiquity: Skylax, Peripus, 68; Anon. Peripus, 18, 52; Strabo,
125< 309, 496, 545-

500

Chronographia AM6120

° The MSS read sia Ts yrjj Boo<fsopov xal_ Ki/apiov, which should
probably be emended to BoaSopov TOV KipLfxtpiov.

"© An hapax.

"Here the Kuban.

* Cf. Moravesik, Byzantinoturcica, ii. 89, 212-13, who thinks it may be
the same as a fish called fSep&TtKov that was caught in the area of the
Maeotis.

3 Called Koubratos by Nik. 22. 1. He was on friendly terms with
Herakleios, who conferred on him the dignity of patrician. There has been
lengthy debate whether he was or was not the same person as the Chrobatos
of DAI 30. 65 and the Kouber of Mir. S. Demetrii, 227 ff. For a judicious
review see P. Lemerle's commentary on the latter, ii. 143 ff.

“ Cf. A. Guillou, Regionalisme et independance dans I'Empire byzantin
au Vile s. (Rome, 1969), 102, quoting relevant western sources.

7 Transposing the text to read: rov Aavairpiv KOI Advaarptv _ irtpaoas,
fiopeiorepovs TOV Aavovfilov TToTa.fi.ovs, Kai TOV VyAov _ KaTaAafidjv, /.terafu
TOVTOV Kaxtlvtov CPK-qcsev, as suggested by V. Besevliev Bz 27 (1927), 35.

° Presumably in the Danube delta. There has been much discussion
whether o(n)glos is derived from Old Slav. Qglu= ‘corner’ or from Turc.
aghul = ‘court’, ‘fortified enclosure’. See Moravcsik, Byzantinoturcica, ii,
S.V. ‘OyyXos and avx-q-, N. Banescu, Byz 28 (19 5 8), 43 3-40,* R. Rasev, Bulgarian
Historical Review [ 1982), 68-79.

'7 N. Dagestan. Cf. Theoph. Sim. VII.8. 3 (Bapa*xr) and Mich. Syr. ii. 364
(‘le pays d'Alan qu'on appelle Barsalia') with the comments of Artamonov,
Istorija, 128, 130-2.

® Referring, presumably, to the time of the composition of the source
here followed by Theoph.

°° On which see I. Dujcev, Medioevo biz.-slavo, i (Rome, 1965), 55-6,
67-82.

*° Very probably the Ris pass, 66 km. north-west of Burgas: Bury, ERE,
339; TIB 6: 202.

* The council met in 680-1.

AM 6172 [AD 679/80]

Year of the divine Incarnation 672
Constantine, 12th year

Azid, leader of the Arabs (3 years), 1st year’
George, 3rd year*

IlIn this year the holy and ecumenical Sixth Council of 289 holy
bishops and fathers assembled at Constantinople at the behest of the
pious emperor Constantine.I\*?

“ Chi. 846, 174-5, ag 992; Cf. Agapios, 233 (1st year of Yazid).

601

AM 6172, Chronographia

" Yezid b. Mu'awiya (Apr. 680-Nov. 683).

* Recte 2nd year. Cf. AM 6177, n. 6.

3 The council convenedon 7 Nov. 680 and adjourned on 16 Sept. 681. The
12th year of Constantine IV is, however, correct.

AM 6173 [AD 680/1]

Year of the divine Incarnation 673

Constantine, emperor of the Romans (17 years), 13th year
Azid, leader of the Arabs (3 years), 2nd year

George, bishop of Constantinople (6 years), 4th year

Il In this year Constantine expelled from the imperial dignity his
brothers, Herakleios and Tiberius, and reigned alone with his son

Justinian. I]

"Cf. Chr. 1234, 225 (two years after Mu'awiya's death, that is in the 13th year of
Constantine, with more details|; Mich. Syr. ii. 455-6; Agapios, 234.

[AM 6174, AD 681/2]

Constantine, 14th year
Azid, 3rd year
George, 5thyear

II In this year the impostor Mouchtar: rebelled and became master of

Persia. He called himself a prophet. The Arabs were troubled.II:

"Cf. Chr. 1234, 225-6 (contemporary with the death of Yezid in the 14th year of
Constantine, AH 63); Mich. Syr. ii. 468, AG 995; Agapios, 234.

" The ShlI'a agitator Al-Mukhtar b. Abi 'Ubaid, who won control of Kufa
from 684 to 686- See relevant art. by G. Levi della Vida in El.

[AM 6175, AD 682/3]

Constantine, 15th year
Marouam, leader of the Arabs (1 year), 1st year
George, 6th year

II In this year Izid died. The Arabs of Ethribos were troubled and rose
up under the leadership of a certain Abdelas, son of Zouber.: The
Phoenicians and Palestinians gathered at Damascus and came as far as
Gabitha to Asan, emir of Palestine.: They laid their hands on Marouam,

whom they appointed leader, and he was emir for nine months.: When

502

Chronographia AM 6120

he had died, his son Abimelech succeeded to the power and was emir
21 and a half years.: He captured the rebels and slew Abdelas, son of
Zouber, as well as Dadachos. 11°

° Cf. Chr. 1234, 226-7; Mich. Syr. ii. 468-9 (less full); Agapios, 234-7.

* "Abdallah b. al-Zubair, on whom see relevant art. by M. Seligsohn in ET’.

He was proclaimed Caliph in Mecca in AH 61 (680/1).
Hassan b. Malik, cousin of Yazid I, governor of Palestine and Jordan.

3 Marwan b. al-Hakam (on whom see relevant art. by H. Lammens in ET’),
d. Apr. or May 685.

* Abd al-Malik b. Marwan (685-705).

> Al-Dahhak b. Qais al-Fihrl, governor of the province of Damascus,
killed at the battle of Mardj Rahit in.684. See relevant art. by H. Lammens
in Ef.

[AM 6176, AD 683/4]

Constantine, 16th year

Abimelech, leader of the Arabs (22 years), ist year’

Theodore, bishop of Constantinople for the second time (3 years), 1st
year’

Il In this year there was a famine and a great plague in Syria;ll- and
Abimelech assumed power over the nation. As the Mardaites were
attacking the regions of the Lebanon and the plague was raging, the
same Abimelech sent ambassadors to the emperor begging for the
peace that had been requested in the days of Mauias and covenanted
to provide as tribute the same 365,000 gold pieces,: 365 slaves, and,
likewise, 365 thoroughbred horses.Il*

"Cf. Agapios, 237. See also H. Pognon, Inscriptions semitiques dela Syrie, dela
Mesopotamie et de la region de Mossonl (Paris, 1907), No. 84, AG 995. & Cf.
Chr. 819, 8, AG 996 (3 years’ truce concluded by ‘Abd al-Malik); Chr. 846, 175 (like-
wise); Agapios, 237 (10 years' truce concluded after accession of Justinian II); Chr.
1234, 227 (Arab embassy to Constantine; terms not given); Elias Nis. 72 (likewise);
Mich. Syr. ii. 469 (no mention of embassy).

" ‘Abd al-Malik's accession occurred in Apr-May 685. The treaty is dated
by Elias Nis. 7 July 685. Theophanes' date is, therefore, one year too early.
Theodore's second tenure lasted from Feb./Mar. 686 (after the accession
of Justinian II) until 28 Dec. 687, that is about 1 year 10 months. The 3 years
given by Theophanes represent the aggregate of his two tenures. See Van
Dieten, Patriarchen, 146-8.
3 Cf. Am 6169, n. 3.

am6172, Chronographia

[AM 6177, AD 684/5]

Constantine, 17th year
Abimelech, 2nd year
Theodore, 2nd year

II In this year the pious emperor Constantine died after a reign of 17
years and Justinian, his son, became emperor.II::

"It should be noted that those who maintain that the Summary
Definitions of the Sixth Council* (which they make much of)? were
issued four years later* are chattering in vain. For, as in all other
respects they are convicted of lying, so here, too, they are proved not
to be speaking the truth. Indeed, an accurate chronological notation
shows that the holy ecumenical Sixth Council, which was directed
against the Monotheletes, took place in the 12th year of the reign of
Constantine, descendant of Herakleios, in the year 6172 from
Creation; and that the same Constantine reigned 5 years thereafter;
and, after his death, his son Justinian reigned alone 10 years; and
after Justinian had been expelled, Leontios ruled 3 years, and after
Leontios, Tiberius (who was also Apsimaros) 7 years, and again
the expelled Justinian 6 years. One may, therefore, determine from
the published Definitions themselves that they were set forth in the
second year of the latter reign of the same Justinian whose nose had
been cut off,’ since the Third Definition contains the following,
word for word: 'We decree that those who have become entangled in
two marriages and have remained enslaved to their sin until 15
January of the past 4th indiction of the year 6199, and have not cho-
sen to come to their senses should be subjected to a canonical depo-
sition. '? And further down, 'Those who, after their ordination, have
contracted one illegal marriage, that is presbyters, deacons, and sub-
deacons, and have already been debarred for a short time from the
holy liturgy and been reproved, shall be reinstated in their respective
ranks, but shall on no account be promoted to a higher rank. Their
illicit union shall, of course, have been dissolved.'® From this
chronological indication it appears clearly that from the holy ecu-
menical Sixth Council until the publication of the Definitions there
accrued 27 years. At the holy ecumenical council the patriarch of
Constantinople was George, who was in the third year of his patri-
archate,° and after the council he remained patriarch another 3
years; and, after him, came the tenures of Theodore (3 years), Paul (7
years), Kallinikos (12 years), and Kyros (2 years),’ so that, on the basis
of the patriarchs, too, 27 years may be deduced. From the publication
of the Definitions until the first year of Philippikos passed 5 years;

504

Chronographia AM 6120

and in the first year of Philippikos took place an insane synod
against the holy ecumenical Sixth Council; and after Kyros had been
expelled in the 6th year of his patriarchate, John was made patriarch
of Constantinople; and both Andrew, metropolitan of Crete, and
Germanus, metropolitan of Kyzikos, clearly signed and anathema-
tized, along with everyone else at that time, the holy ecumenical
Sixth Council that had been directed against the Monotheletes. And
John having died 3 years later, Germanus was translated from
Kyzikos and was made patriarch of Constantinople; and in the 13th
year of the reign of Leo he was exiled and Anastasios was made patri-
arch, who ruled 24 years; and, after him, Constantine 12 years;
Niketas 14; Paul 5; Tarasios 21; Nikephoros 8; Theodotos 6; Antony
16; and John, who divined with a basin, 6 years, 1 month."®

* Constantine IV died in early Sept. 685 according to Lib. Pont. i. 366 or
on 10 July according to Chr. Alt.: see P. Grierson, DOP 16 (1962), 50. The
former date has been defended by V. Grumel, AnBoll 84 (1966), 254-60, who
identified as Constantine IV the emperor Constantine the younger com-
memorated in Syn. CP 12. 6 under 3 Sept. See, however, F. Halkin, AnBoll
24 (1954), 14-17 and P. Karlin-Hayter, Byz 36 (1966), 624-6. Discussion in
Stratos, v. 162-3, who favours the July date. If the latter is correct and falls,
as it must, in 685, then Theophanes' AM date is also correct.

* This refers to the canons of the Quinisext Council (691/2).

3 TOVS Trap’ avTols A J-ii*o*ivovs, rendered by Anast. by quae diffamatae
sun, perhaps under the influence of <$dp.wooov, tfapLovaov = famosus libel-
ms. It is, however, difficult to attach a negative meaning (‘to decry’) to the
verb <>Tjfiar, which has either a neutral connotation (‘to spread a report’ as
in Theoph. 234. 21, irfq*uadr). . . ON eTeXevrrfaev O /3aaiXevs) OF a positive
one (‘to celebrate’).

4 i.e. 4 years after the accession of Justinian II. Note that precisely such a
claim was officially made at the Council of 787, namely that the Fathers of
the Quinisext were the same who had taken part in the Sixth Council and
that they met /.tera reaaapas rj weVre xp°°’s after the accession of Justinian
II: Mansi xiii. 220C. This indicates that the author of the 'scholion’ is writ-
ing from an iconoclastic position; hence his desire to post-date the
Quinisext (which in its famous 82nd canon recommended the representa-
tion of Christ in human form) and his unflattering reference to Germanus
and Andrew of Crete. It is perhaps misleading to speak of a 'scholion’, since
that would imply an iconoclastic annotator of our Chronicle. It is more
likely that we have here part of a polemical tract, which an absent-minded
copyist or editor of the Chronicle thought fit to include without realizing its
ideological orientation. As to the date of this tract, it should be noted that
in Anast.'s version (dB 230) it concludes with Tarasius viginti uno, which

505

363

AM6172, Chronographia

suggests a time of composition shortly after 806. Later the list of patriarchs
was continued by an iconodule down to John VII (838-43), who is given the
opprobrious epithet of AeKavofj-avris-

> The calculation is erroneous owing to the fact that the author of the
‘scholion' mistook the year 6199 given in can. 3 as being in the Alexandrian
era, whereas, in fact, it is reckoned according to the Byzantine era ( = Jan.
691).

© This synchronism (as in AM 6172) is incorrect, since the Sixth Council
was in session from Nov. 680 to Sept. 681, whereas George was ordained in
Dec. 679. He would, therefore, have been in his 2nd year during most of the
duration of the Council.

Recte 6 aS below, unless our author means to say that the Quinisext was
held in the 2nd year of Kyros. It is difficult to understand the reasoning
underlying his enumeration of patriarchs if he did not have some reason for
believing that the Quinisext had met under Kyros, whereas, in fact, it did so
under Paul (Mansi, xi. 988).

8 The last four names represent a later addition: see above, n. 4. Contra
Grumel, £0 34 (1935), 164, Treadgold, pop 33 (1979), 178-9, argues that
John's accession took place on 21 Apr. 838, that is that he was in office 5
years and 1 months.

AM 6178 [AD 685/6]

Year of the divine Incarnation 678

Justinian, emperor of the Romans (10 years), 1st year
Abimelech, leader of the Arabs (22 years), 3rd year
Theodore, bishop of Constantinople (3 years), 3rd year

II In this year Abimelech sent emissaries to Justinian to ratify the peace,
and it was concluded on these terms: that the emperor should remove
the host of the Mardaites from the Lebanon and prevent their incur-
sions; that Abimelech would give to the Romans every day 1,000 gold
pieces, a horse, and a slave;: and that they would share in equal parts
the tax revenue of Cyprus, Armenia, and Iberia. The emperor sent the
magistrianus Paul to Abimelech in order to ratify the agreement, and
a written guarantee was drawn up and witnessed. After being hon-
ourably rewarded, the magistrianus returned home. The emperor sent
orders to receive the Mardaites, 12,000 of them,Il* thereby injuring
the Roman state: for all the cities along the border that are now
inhabited by Arabs, from Mopsuestia to the Fourth Armenia, were
then weak and uninhabited because of the assaults of the Mardaites.
Since these have been repressed, the Roman country has been suf-
fering terrible ills at the hands of the Arabs until this day.

II In the same year Abimelech sent Ziados, the brother of Mauias,: to

Persia against the impostor and usurper Mouchtar. And Ziados was

506

Chronographia AM 6120

slain by Mouchtar. When Abimelech had heard of this, he came to
Mesopotamia, and Saidos: revolted against him. Turning back, he per-
suaded Saidos by agreement to open Damascus (which the latter had
previously seized) and then treacherously assassinated him.|]l

Being a young man, about 16 years old,lI° and foolish in the
administration of his affairs, Justinian sent the strategos Leontios
with a Roman army to Armenia. He slew the Saracens that were
there and subjugated Armenia to the Romans; likewise Iberia,
Albania, Boukania,* and Media,’ and, after imposing taxes on those
countries, sent a great sum of money to the emperor. When
Abimelech had been informed of this, he occupied Kerkesion® and
subjugated Theoupolis.”

2 See AM 6176, n. b (the magistrianus Pauldoes not appear in the Syriac sources).
> Cf. Chr. 1234, 227-8; Elias Nis. 72 (AH 70). ¢ Cf. Nik. 38. 2.

" Quoted in DAI 22. 2 with a slight variant \TT-TTOV ev-yevri eW Kal
AWiona SoOAov_ iva).

* In fact, 'Ubaid Allah b. Ziyad, who was defeated and killed by the
Shi'ites on 6 Aug. 686. His father Ziyad b. Abihi was Mu'awiya’'s half-brother.

3 Amr b. Sa'id al-Ashdak (see relevant art. by K. V. Zettersteen in EP),
who revolted in Damascus during the Caliph's expedition to Iraq in AH 69
(689) and was put to death the following year.

* Presumably the canton of Bukha south of Tayk', BaKxla in Ptolemy,
Geogr. 5. 12. 3. Cf. Toumanoff, studies, 450 N. 53.

> Azerbaijan.

° Circesium (Karkisiya) at the confluence of the Euphrates and the
Khabur. After revolting under Zufar b. al-Harith (cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 469), it
submitted to the Caliph in AH 71 (690). This action was not, of course, moti-
vated by the operations of Leontios.

7 A revolt at Antioch does not appear to be recorded at this juncture.

[AM 6179, AD 686/7]

Justinian, 2nd year
Abimelech, 4th year
Paul, bishop of Constantinople (7 years), 1st year’

II In this year there was a famine in Syria and many men migrated tothe
Roman country.II-

u The emperor went to Armenia and received there the Mardaites of
Lebanon, thereby destroying a 'brazen wall'." He also broke the peace
that had been concluded with the Bulgars, upsetting the formal treaty
made by his own father, and ordered the cavalry themata to cross over

to Thrace, intending to conquer the Bulgars and the Sklavinias.II°

507

am6172, Chronographia

' Paul III (Jan. 688-20 Aug. 693). Nik. chron. 119. 6 and Fischer, catal
289, no. 65 give him a tenure of 6 years 8 months.

AM 6180 [AD 6877/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 680
Justinian, 3rd year

Abimelech, 5thyear

Paul, 2nd year

In this year Justinian made an expedition against Sklavinia and
Bulgaria. He pushed back for the time being the Bulgars who had
come out to oppose him and, having advanced as far as Thessalonica,
took a multitude of Slavs, some by war, while others went over to
him.’ He made them cross by way of Abydos and settled them in the
area of OpsikionJI"* On his return, however, he was waylaid by the
Bulgars in the narrow pass and was barely able to make his way, after
suffering the slaughter of his army and many wounded.

II In the same year, too, Abdelas Zouber sent his own brother Mousa-
bos: against Mouktaros. After they had joined battle, Mouktaros was
routed and fled to Syria... Mousabos overtook him and slew him.
Abimelech made an expedition against Mousaros: whom he van-

quished and slew; and he subjugated all of Persia.Il«

" Cf. Nik. 38. 7-11. > Cf. Chr. riS4, 228; Elias Nis. 72-3 (AH 71) neither
close to Theoph.

" The success of the expedition of 688 is alluded to in the inscription,
now lost, found in 1885 in the church of St Demetrios at Thessalonica: J.-M.
Spieser, TM 5 (1973), 156-9, no.8. The inscription records the grant to the
church of a salt pan as from Sept., indiction 2 ( = 688), which proves that in
this case the AM is correct.

* i.e. in Bithynia.

3 Mus'ab b. al-Zubair (see relevant entry by H. Lammens in ey. He was
defeated and killed in AH 72 (691).

4 Untrue. Mukhtar had been killed at Kufa in AH 67.

> Read Mousabos.

AM 618] [AD 688/9]

Year of the divine Incarnation 681
Justinian, emperor of the Romans (10 years), 4th year

508

Chronographia AM 6120

Abimelech, leader of the Arabs (22 years), 6th year
Paul, bishop of Constantinople (7 years), 3rd year

Il In this year Abimelech sent Chagan: to Mecca against Zoubeir,:
whom Chagan slew there. Chagan subjugated for Abimelech that
country, which was opposed to him, and burnt their pagan temple
together with the idol they worshipped.: On this account Abimelech
made Chagan military governor of Persia.Il) And so Persia and
Mesopotamia and the Great Arabia of Ethribos submitted to
Abimelech and their internecine wars ceased.

Cf. Chi. 1234, 228; Mich. Syr. ii. 470 (shorter); Elias Nis. 73 (AH 72 and 73).

Read Xayay = Hadjdjadj b. Yusuf, on whom see A. Dietrich in EP.
* ‘Abdallah b.al-Zubair as under AM 6180.
3 The Ka'ba of Mecca. Hadjdjadj destroyed its outer wall, which he later
rebuilt. The siege of Mecca occurred in 692.

[AM 6182, AD 689/90]

Justinian, 5thyear
Abimelech, 7thyear
Paul, 4th year

II In this year the Arab state was delivered from all wars and Abimelech

dwelt in peace after having subjugated everybody.II:

2 Cf. Chi. 1234, 230. 28, AG 1002; Ps.-Dion. 10.

[AM 6183, AD 690/91]

Justinian, 6thyear
Abimelech, 8thyear
Paul, 5thyear

II In this year Justinian foolishly broke the peace with Abimelech; for he
strove in his folly to move the population of the island of Cyprus and
refused to accept the minted coin that had been sent by Abimelech
because it was of a new kind that had never been made before. As
the Cypriots were crossing, a multitude of them drowned or died of ill-
ness, and the remainder returned to Cyprus.Il}: When Abimelech had
been informed of this, he diabolically feigned to be begging that
peace should not be broken and that Justinian should accept his cur-
rency, seeing that the Arabs could not suffer the Roman imprint on

their own currency; and inasmuch asthe gold was paid by weight, the

509

AM 6183 Chronogiaphia

Romans did not suffer any loss from the fact that the Arabs were mint-
ing new coin. Justinian mistook his plea as a sign of fear, not under-
standing that their concern was to stop the incursions of the
Mardaites: and then break the peace under a seemingly reasonable
pretext; which, indeed, came to pass.

Abimelech gave instructions for the rebuilding of the temple of
Mecca and wanted to remove the columns of Holy Gethsemane.: Now
Sergius, son of Mansour, a good Christian, who was treasurer: and
stood on close terms with Abimelech, as well as his peer, Patricius sur-
named Klausys, who was prominent among the Christians of Palestine,
begged him not to do this, but to persuade Justinian, through their
supplication, to send other columns instead of those; which, indeed,

was done.:

" Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 470; chi. 1234, 230, AG 1003.

* Justinian's refusal to accept tribute in the form of the new Arab coinage,
which Theoph. is alone to mention, has been accepted by some scholars,
denied by others. For the case contra, see J. D. Breckenridge, The
Numismatic Iconography of Justinian 7/(New York, 1959), 69 ff. The point
at issue is which kind of coinage is meant here. The mint of Damascus
issued in quick succession three types of gold: (r) With imitated imperial
images and, on the reverse, a staff on steps (AD 692-4); (2) With standing
caliph (694-7); (3) Exclusively with Arabic inscriptions (from 697 onwards).
If Theoph. refers to Type 1, which may have gone into production by 691,
his statement cannot be ruled out on chronological grounds. So M. L. Bates,
Schweizerische numismatische Rundschau, 65 (1986), 247 ff. Cf. also C.
Morrisson in Syrie colloque, 311 ff. It may be noted, however, that accord-
ing to Mich. Syr. and Chron. 1234, the casus belli was Justinian's claim of
exclusive jurisdiction over Cyprus and the instructions he sent to the
Cypriots not to pay tribute to the Arabs. Syriac chronicles speak only of the
introduction of Type 3 coinage: in AH J6/AG 1006 according to Elias Nis. 73;
in AG 1008 according to Chi. 819, 9; Chi. 846, 176; Mich. Syr. ii. 473.

* But the Mardaites had already been removed (AM 6179).

3 This may refer either to the basilica of the Agony, which was still stand-
ing in the early 8th cent., or the octagonal Tomb of the Virgin Mary, rebuilt
by the emperor Maurice. On these churches see Maraval, Lieux saints,
263-4.

* yeviKos \oyo8eT7]s. Mentioned by Mich. Syr. ii. 477, 492 as secretary of
Abd al-Malik and an opponent of the Jacobites; by Tabari, xviii. 216 as sec-
retary of Mu'awiyah. He was presumably the father of St John Damascene,
called simply Mansour (his given name?) in the anathema directed against
him by the Council of 7s 4. John does not appear to have been mentioned in
Theophanes' eastern source. On his confused biographical data see now
M.-F. Auzepy, TM12 (1994), 194 ff. Cf. also below, AM 6221, 6226, 6234.

> This account, presumably derived from a Syro-Palestinian Melkite

510

Chronographia AM 6120

source, is not otherwise attested. See H. A. R. Gibb, DOP 12 (1958), 229
n. 14.

[AM 6184, AD 691/2]

Justinian, 7thyear
Abimelech, 9 thyear
Paul, 6thyear

In this year Justinian made a levy among the Slavs he had trans-
planted and raised an army of 30,000, whom he armed and named
‘the Chosen People’. He appointed Neboulos to be their leader. Being
confident in them, he wrote to the Arabs that he would not abide by
the written peace treaty. So, taking along the Chosen People and all
the cavalry themata, he advanced to Sebastopolis, which is by the
sea. Now the Arabs feigned to be unwilling to break the peace,
which they were obliged to do by the emperor's fault and rashness;
and, having also armed themselves, they came to Sebastopolis,
protesting to the emperor that the mutual agreements made under
oath should not be dissolved; otherwise, God would judge the guilty
and take revenge on them. Since the emperor would not even suffer
to hear such things, but was pressing for battle, they unfolded the
written peace treaty and hung it, instead of a standard, from a tall
spear which they carried in front of them, and so rushed against the
Romans under the leadership of Mouamed’ and joined battle. At first
the Arabs were defeated. Mouamed, however, won over the com-
mander of the Slavs who were fighting on the Roman side by sending
him a pouch full of gold pieces and, after deceiving him with many
promises, persuaded him to join their side together with 20,000
Slavs; and in this way he caused the Romans to flee. II? Thereupon
Justinian killed the rest of them, together with their wives and chil-
dren, at a rocky place called Leukete? near the gulf of Nicomedia.

"Cf. Nik. 38. 11-26.

* Sebastopolis (modern Sulusaray) was in Armenia II, north-west of
Sebasteia (Sivas), hence a considerable distance from the sea. On the site see
F. and E. Cumont, Studia Pontica, ii (Brussels, 1906), 201 ff. The attempt by
Brooks, BZ 18 (1909), 154-6, to discover a maritime Sebastopolis in Pontos
Polemoniakos has been proved vain by A. Maricq, Byz 22 (1952), 350-4.
Mich. Syr. ii. 470 places the engagement near Caesarea in Cappadocia. He
adds that 7,000 Slavs defected to the Arabs and were settled at Antioch and
Kyrrhos. Elias Nis. 73 (AH 73) records that Muhammad filius Marwan
Sebastiam urbem Romanorum intravit, et victor fuit et cum gaudio exiit.

511

367

am 6184 Chronographia

* Muhammad b. Marwan, governor of Mesopotamia, Abd al-Malik's
brother. See relevant art. by K. V. Zettersteen in El.

3 Modern Yelkenkayaburnu on the north side of the gulf, facing Yalova.
See Janin, CP, 500-1,- Grands centres, 425. The statement that all the
remaining Slavs were killed is, of course, greatly exaggerated. Sigillographic
evidence suggests that considerable numbers of them were sold off as slaves
in 694/5, "°t only in Bithynia, but also in other parts of Asia Minor. See N.
Oikonomides, DOP 46 (1986), 51-3; for a different interpretation, Hendy,
Economy, 631 ff.

[AM 6185, AD 692/3]

Justinian, 8thyear
Abimelech, 10th year
Paul, 7th year

II In this year Sabbatios, the patrician of Armenia,’ on being informed
of the defeat of the Romans, delivered Armenia to the Arabs. Inner
Persia, which is called Chorasan, also submitted to them. There arose
there an impostor (?): by the name of Sabinos,: who killed many Arabs
and nearly drowned Chaganos: himself in a river.II

From that time on the Hagarenes were further emboldened and
devastated the Roman country. u”

"Cf. Chr. 1234, 231. 1-9. Theoph. has confused the names: it was Hadjdjadj who
drowned Shabib in the Euphrates. > Cf. Nik. 38. 26-8.

* Smbat VI Bagratuni, who frequently changed sides between the emperor
and the caliph. See Toumanoff, Studies, 341.

2 TrapafiovXos, a variant form of vapafioAos (classical) = ‘deceitful, reck-
less’. See Lampe, s.v. Rendered as insidiator by Anast.; glossed tyrannus by
dB 764, but cf. Chr. 1234, 231. 4, vir harurita, id est raphidhaeus [vox ara-
bica, quae 'fanaticus’ sonat]. See discussion by L. I. Conrad, ByzF 15 (1990),
38 ff-

3 Shabib b. Yazid, the Kharidji leader, defeated in 697. Cf. Elias Nis. 74
(H 77). His end is wrongly dated AG 1016 in Chr. 819, 9 and Chr. 846, 176.

4 Read Xayay as under AM 6181.

AM 6186 [AD 693/4]

Year of the divine Incarnation 686

Justinian, emperor of the Romans (10 years), 9th year
Abimelech, leader of the Arabs (22 years), nth year
Kallinikos, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 1st year’

512

Chronographia AM 6120

II In this year there occurred an eclipse of the sun on the 5th of the
month Hyperberetaios, a Sunday, in the 3rd hour, so that some ofthe
brighter stars became visible.II-

11Mouamed made an expedition against the Roman country, taking
along the Slav refugees who were acquainted with it, and made many
prisoners.Il: There was also a slaughter of pigs in Syria.Il

As for Justinian, he busied himself with constructions in the
palace. He built Justinian's Hall,” as it is called, and the circuit wall
of the palace. I iHe appointed as supervisor of works, as lord and mas-
ter his treasurer and chief eunuch, Stephen the Persian, a most
bloodthirsty and cruel man who, not content with punishing the
workmen pitilessly, used to stone them as well as their foremen.
The emperor being absent, this wild beast even dared to have his
mother, the Augusta Anastasia, whipped with a strap as if she were
a child. Having done much evil in these respects as well as to the
entire body of citizens, he caused the emperor to be hated.
Furthermore, Justinian appointed as head of the State treasury’ a cer-
tain monk called Theodotos, who had previously been a hermit on
the Thracian side of the Bosporus, a terrible and savage man who,
quite gratuitously and without cause, inflicted demands, exactions
and confiscations on many dignitaries of the state and prominent
men, both among the administrators and the inhabitants of the City,
whom he hanged from ropes, placing smoking straw beneath
them.I In addition, the prefect, by imperial command, threw many
men in prison and caused them to be confined for several years. All
these acts increased the people's hatred of the emperor.

Now the emperor demanded the patriarch Kallinikos that he
should recite a prayer enabling him to demolish the church of the
holy Mother of God ton metropolitou, which was near the palace,*
because he wished to set up a fountain at that spot and erect benches
for the Blue faction that they might receive the emperor there.’ But
the patriarch said, 'We do have a prayer for the construction of a
church,° but none has been handed down to us for the destruction of
a church.’ As the emperor went on pressing him and demanding a
prayer at all cost, the patriarch said, 'Glory be to God who suffers
everything, now and for ever and ever. Amen.’ On hearing this, they
destroyed the church and built the fountain. And they built the
church tdn metropolitou at the Petrion.’

" Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 474, AG 1005, AH 75, a Sunday in Oct., 3rd and 4th hours; Elias
Nis. 73 (AH 74), 5 Oct. and again AH 75, Sunday, 5 Oct., 5th hour of the day. 5 Oct. 693

is the correct date, thus agreeing with the AM. > Cf. Elias Nis. 74. 1-2 (AH 77).
See also Brooks, 'Arabs', 189, AH 75. © Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 475; Chr. 846, 176.17,
AG ior5; Chr. 1234, 230. 26-7. ¢ Cf. Nik. 39.

513

AM 6172, Chronographia

* Aug./Sept. 693-Aug. 705. Codd. e, m add at this point: ‘Alexander,
bishop of Jerusalem—blank—years.’ Alexander is not listed in Grumel, 45 1.

* On this building see Ebersolt, Grand Palais, 95-9.

> TOV yeviKov Xoyodeoiov. Theodotos is the first attested XoyoOeTrjs Tov
yeviKov: see Bury, Adm. System, 86-7; Oikonomides, Listes, 313.

4 Cf. Janin, Eglises, 197.

> On the phiale of the Blues see Ebersolt, Grand Palais, 100-2. It was sit-
uated at the foot of the terrace of the Pharos.

° For the prayer in question see V. Ruggieri, OCP 54 (1988), 79 ff.

7 A quarter along the Golden Horn: Janin, CP, 407-8.

[am 6187, ad 694/5]

Justinian, 10th year
Abimelech, 12th year
Kallinikos, 2nd year

Il In this year Mouamed made an expedition against the Fourth
Armenia and, after taking many captives, returned home.]]:

The same year Justinian was expelled from the imperial office in
the following manner. He directed Stephen surnamed Rousios, the
patrician and strategos, to kill at night the people of Constantinople,
starting with the patriarch. u Now the patrician Leontios, who had
been strategos of the Anatolics and proved successful in war, and
who later had spent three years in prison as the result of an accusa-
tion,’ was suddenly released and appointed strategos of Hellas. He
was ordered to embark on three dromones and set out from the City
the same day. That night, as he had put in at Julian's harbour (that
of Sophia), next to the quarter of Mauros,* in preparation for sailing
away from the City, he was bidding farewell to the friends who came
to see him. Among those who presented themselves were his close
friends, Paul, monk of the monastery of Kallistratos,* who was also
an astronomer, and Gregory the Cappadocian, who had been a
kleisourarch* and later became monk and abbot of the monastery of
Florus.* These men had frequently visited him in prison and assured
him that he would become Roman emperor. Now Leontios said to
them, 'In prison you have made assurances to me concerning the
imperial office, and now my life is about to end in evil circum-
stances. For every hour of the day I shall expect death to be standing
behind me.' They answered, 'If you do not hesitate, your goal will
soon be accomplished. Do but hearken to us and follow us.’ So
Leontios took his men and as many arms as he had and went up very
quietly to the Praetorium. They knocked on the gate and alleged that
the emperor had come to make arrangements concerning some of

514

Chionogzaphia AM 6121

the inmates. This was announced to the prefect then in office, who
came and opened the gates; whereupon he was seized by Leontios,
beaten, and bound hand and foot. Leontios went in, opened the
prison cells, and released the prisoners, a numerous band of brave
men, most of them soldiers, who had been confined six or eight
years. He gave them arms and went to the Forum with them, shout-
ing, 'All Christians to St Sophia!’ He also sent emissaries to each
region® with orders to proclaim the same call. The populace of the
City was perturbed and hastily gathered in the atrium’ of the
church. Leontios himself, together with his friends, the two monks,
and some of the more prominent men that had come out of prison,
went up to the Patriarchate to see the patriarch. Finding him equally
perturbed by the order given to the patrician Stephen Rousios, he
persuaded him to come down to the atrium and cry out, ‘This is the
day that the Lord hath made!” Then the whole multitude raised the
shout, ‘May Justinian's bones be dug up!’ And so all the people
rushed to the Hippodrome. When it was day, they brought Justinian
out into the Hippodrome through the Sphendone and, after cutting
off his nose and tongue, banished him to Cherson. The mob seized
both the monk Theodotos, who was logothete of the genikon,
and the sakellarios Stephen the Persian, and after tying ropes round
their feet, dragged them through the main street to the Forum Bovis
and burnt them there. And thus they proclaimed Leontios
emperor. I

"See AM 6186, n. b. Cf. also Brooks, '‘Arabs', 190 (raid in the region of Malatya, AH
76 - 695/6). > Ps. 117 (118): 24. © Cf. Nik. 40.

i Punctuating iv <fspovpa re xpovovs Tpets noirjoas Karrjyop-qBtis, e4amva
aveK\r)dTj (dB punctuates 7Totrjaas, Kar-qyop-qdeis etc.).

* On this quarter see Janin, cp, 387.

3 On which see Janin, Eglises, 275-6. 4 See AM 6159, n. 2.

> See Janin, £elises, 495-6.

° With reference to the (originally 14) urban regions of Constantinople.

7 XovITjp. For the meaning of this term see Ebersolt, ste-sopnie, 5,

[am 6188, ad 695/6]

Leontios, emperor of the Romans (3 years), 1st year
Abimelech, 13th year
Kallinikos, 3rd year

In this year Leontios was made emperor and remained in peace on all
sides.’

515

370

AM 6L88 Chionogiaphia

Chi. 1234, 231. 12-13, places the accession of Leontios in the 12th year
of 'Abd al-Malik, AG 1007.

[am 6189, ad 696/7]

Leontios, 2nd year
Abimelech, 14th year
Kallinikos, 4th year

In this year Alidos' made an expedition against the Roman country
and, after taking many captives, returned home. Sergius, the patrician
of Lazica, son of Barnoukios,: raised a rebellion and made Lazica sub-

ject to the Arabs.

* Perhaps a mistake for al-Walrd, who is recorded to have made an expe-
dition to the area of Malatya in AH 77 (696/7): Elias Nis. 74. 1-2; Brooks,
‘Arabs’, 190.

* Barnoukios appears to have been the same as Aefiapvikios 0 TrarpiKios
Aafu<rjs, Tnentioned in c. 655 in the Aypomnesticon by Theodore
Spoudaios, ed. R. Devreesse, AnBor 53 (1935), 68. See Toumanoff, Studies,
255 N. 355. Lazica had been a kingdom in the 6th cent., but its political sta-
tus in the second half of the 7th is unclear.

am 6190 [ad 697/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 690
Leontios, 3rd year

Abimelech, 15thyear

Kallinikos, 5 th year

IlIn this year the Arabs made an expedition against Africa, which
they occupied and garrisoned with their own army.’ When Leontios
had been informed of this, he dispatched the patrician John, an able
man, at the head of the entire Roman fleet. On reaching Carthage,
this man opened by force of arms the chain of the harbour that is
there, routed and expelled the enemy, liberated all the forts of Africa,
and, after stationing his own garrison, reported these matters to the
emperor and wintered there, awaiting the emperor's orders. But the
Caliph, when he had heard these things, sent against him a numer-
ous and more powerful fleet and forcibly drove out of the harbour the
aforesaid John with his ships; and having entered within [the city]
merely to make a tour (?),” he encamped his army outside. The said
John returned to the Roman country intending to obtain a bigger
force from the emperor and came as far as Crete on his way to the

516

Chronographia AM 6120

capital. But his soldiers, incited by their own officers and being
unwilling to return to the capital (for they were gripped by fear and
shame), turned to an evil plan: they abjured the emperor and elected
in his stead Apsimaros, the drungarius of the Kibyraiots, who
belonged to the squadron of Korykos,? whom they renamed
Tiberius. Now, as Leontios was cleansing the Neorion harbour‘ at
Constantinople, a bubonic plague fell upon the City and, in the
course of four months, killed a multitude of people. Apsimaros
arrived with his fleet and anchored opposite the City at Sykai. For
some time the people of the City did not wish to betray Leontios, but
a betrayal was made through the single wall of the Blachernai by the
provincial commanders who, under terrible oaths, had been
entrusted over the altar table with the keys of the Land Walls: it was
they who treacherously surrendered the City. When the marines of
the fleet entered the citizens’ houses, they stripped bare their inhab-
itants. As for Apsimaros, he cut off the nose of Leontios and ordered
him to be kept under guard in the monastery of Delmatos.Il" The
commanders who were friendly with the latter and ready to die on
his behalf he exiled, after flogging them and confiscating their prop-
erty. He appointed his own brother Herakleios, a most able man,
sole commander’ of all the provincial cavalry themata and sent him
to patrol the area of Cappadocia and of the passes and take charge of
defence against the enemy.

« Cf. Nik. 41.

* The course of the Arab conquest of Roman Africa is extremely obscure.

See J. Wellhausen, Die Kampfe der Araber mit den Romaern, Nachr. Kon.
Ges. d. Wiss. Gott. (1901), 434-6; Caetani, Chron. 883 ff., Stratos, vii. 88 ff.,
EP, s.v. Hassan b. al-Nu'man al-Ghassani (M. Talbi). The ease of the
Byzantine reoccupation of Carthage is probably to be explained by Hassan's
defeat at the hands of the Berber queen al-Kahina, which Elias Nis. 74 places
at this juncture (AH 78).

* Weare not certain of the meaning of the clause Kal els n-epiSpo‘tov AIOV
evSov napaXafiwv, which Anast. has omitted from his translation, presum-
ably because he failed to understand it. Possibly napaXaficLv should be
emended to -napafiaXojv. For TrapapaWaj (intrans.) = 'to arrive, to enter’ see
Lampe, s.v. We have translated accordingly.

3 The wording is ambiguous (ets KovpiKicoras V-TTapxavra). Nik. para-
phrases orparov apxovra rcuv KovpiKiwTihv rvyxavovra rr/s V7TO

371

KiftvpaiajTwv x<*>pas. Cf. H. Antoniadis-Bibicou, Etudes d'histoire maritime

de Byzance (Paris, 1966), 85, 96 n. 5, who believes that Apsimaros com-
manded a contingent of men from Cilician Korykos stationed in the area of
Kibyra. See also P. A. Yannopoulos, Byz 61 (1991), 524.

4 In the area of modem Sirkeci: Janin, CP, 235-6, 396-7; Ahrweiler, Mer,

517

am 6190 Chionogiaphia

430 ff. The dredging of the harbour was probably motivated by military con-
siderations.

> Seal of Herakleios, patrician and monostrategos in Zacos-Veglery, i/2:
1982.

AM 6191 [AD 698/9]

Year of the divine Incarnation 691

Apsimaros, emperor of the Romans (7 years), 1st year
Abimelech, leader of the Arabs (22 years), 16th year
Kallinikos, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 6th year

In this year Apsimaros acceeded to the Empire. IlAbderachman:
revolted in Persia, of which he became master, and drove Chagan out
of there.II-

"Elias Nis. 74-5 records the rebellion of 'Abd Allah (sic) b. Muhammad b. al-
Ash'ath in AH 82.

" 'Abd al-Rahman b. al-Ash'ath, whose revolt is placed in AH 81 (700/1) by
Caetani, Chron., 969.

[AM 6192, AD 699/700]

Apsimaros, 2nd year
Abimelech, 17thyear
Kallinikos, 7th year

II In this year there was a great plague.II/- Mouamed,: at the head of a
multitude of Arabs, made an expedition against Abderachman. When
he reached Persia, he joined forces with Chagan. They made war on
Abderachman, whom they killed,: and, once again, Persia was handed
over to Chagan.II-

IiThe Romans invaded Syria and came as far as Samosata. They laid
waste the surrounding country and killed, it is said, as many as 200,000
Arabs. They took much booty and many Arab captives and, after instill-
ing great fear in them, returned home.|II:

"Elias Nis. 74 records a plague in AH 79 and another the following year; cai. 819,
ginAGion. > Cf. Elias Nis. 75 (AH 83). ° Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 473-4 (5,000
Arabs killed).

Muhammad b. Marwan.
* The defeat of Abd al-Rahman is dated AH 82 (701) in ET, s.v. Al-
Hadjdjadj b. Yusuf (by A. Dietrich), in AH 83 (702) by Caetani, Chion. 993-5.

518

Chronographia AM 6120

[am 6193, ad 700/1] 372

Apsimaros, 3rd year
Abimelech, 18thyear
Kallinikos, 8thyear

II In this year Abdelas: made an expedition against the Roman country.
He besieged Taranton: to no avail and returned home. He built up

Mopsuestia and placed a guard therein.II

"Cf. Chr. 819, 9 and Chr. 846, 176, AG 1015 (expedition of Abd Allah and rebuild-
ing of Mopsuestia]; Chr. 1234, 231, AG 1013; Elias Nis. 75 (expedition of Abd al-Malik
or Abd Allah in AH 83, rebuilding of Mopsuestia the following year); Mich. Syr. ii.
477-8 (capture of Mopsuestia by Maslamah in AG 1015 and its rebuilding in AG 1017).
Cf. also Brooks, 'Arabs', 191, AH 83 and 84.

* ‘Abdallah b. 'Abd al-Malik.
* Cf. Caetani, chron. 996: raid on Tarandah in AH 83 (702).

[am 6194, ad 7ol/2]

Apsimaros, 4th year
Abimelech, 19th year
Kallinikos, 9thyear

In this year Baanes, nicknamed Heptadaimon, subjugated the Fourth
Armenia to the Arabs.’

Apsimaros exiled Philippikos,* the son of the patrician Nike-
phoros, to Kephalonia because he was dreaming of becoming
emperor; for he claimed to have seen in a dream that his head was
shadowed by an eagle. When the emperor had heard this, he imme-
diately banished him.

" In AH 82 (7o1/2) according to Caetani, Chron, 982. Baanes (Vahan)
Seven-Devils appears to be otherwise unrecorded.

* The future emperor. He was called Bardanes and was Persarmenian by
origin: 4co 2nd ser. ii/2 (1992), 899

[am 6195, ad 702/3]

Apsimaros, 5th year
Abimelech, 2oth year
Kallinikos, iothyear

II In this year the Armenian chieftains rebelled against the Saracens

and killed the Saracens who were in Armenia.: Once more they made

519

373

AM 6172, Chronographia

contact with Apsimaros and brought the Romans into their country.
Mouamed,: however, made an expedition against them and killed
many people. He subjugated Armenia to the Arabs,ll- and as for the
Armenian chieftains, he gathered them in one place and burnt them
alive. I+

The same year Azar: made an expedition against Cilicia at the head
of 10,000 men. The emperor's brother, Herakleios, met him and killed

most of the enemy; the remainder he sent as captives to the emperor.

° Cf. Chr. 1234, 231. 26-30, AG 1014. > Ibid. 229. 2-4; Mich. Syr. ii. 474.

In AH 83 (702/3): Caetani, Chron. 996-7.
Muhammad b. Marwan. See Caetani, Chron. 1010, AH 84 (703/4).

3 Not mentioned in other sources. Perhaps this is a doublet of the Arab
defeat recorded the following year.

[am 6196, ad 703/4]

Apsimaros, 6th year
Abimelech 21st year
Kallinikos, nth year

In this year Azidos, son of Chounei,: made an expedition against Cilicia
and laid siege to the fortress of Sision.: The emperor's brother
Herakleios fell on him and killed 12,000 Arabs in battle.:

uNow, while Justinian was living at Cherson and proclaiming
publicly that he would regain the Empire once again, the inhabitants
of those parts took fright of the danger they were incurring on the
emperor's part and decided either to kill him or to send him to the
emperor. But he became aware of this and managed to escape; and
having reached Daras,* he requested an audience with the Chagan of
the Chazars. On being informed of this, the latter received him with
great honour and gave him in marriage his own sister Theodora.’
After a short time he obtained permission to come down to
Phanagouria,° and there he lived with Theodora. When Apsimaros
had heard of these matters, he wrote to the Chagan, promising him
many gifts if the latter would send him Justinian alive,- if not, at least
his head. The Chagan yielded to this request and sent a guard to
Justinian on the pretext that the latter should not fall victim to a
plot made by his own countrymen. He also gave orders to Papatzys,
his representative in those parts, and to Balgitzis,’? commander of the
Bosphoros,” that they should kill Justinian when so instructed.
These matters, however, were announced to Theodora by a servant
of the Chagan's and so became known to Justinian, who invited

520

Chionogzaphia AM 6121

Papatzys to a private meeting and strangled him with a cord; and he
did the same to the commander Balgitzis. Straight away he sent
Theodora off to the land of the Chazars, while he himself secretly
fled from Phanagouria and came down to Tomis.° He found a fishing
boat that was fitted out and boarded it; and having sailed past
Assas,'° he came to Symbolon,” which is close to Cherson. He sent
word to Cherson in secret and took along Barasbakourios” and the
latter's brother, as well as Stephen, Moropaulos, and Theophilos;
and, sailing off with them, he went past the lighthouse of Cherson.
After he had thus sailed by Nekropela,’* the mouth of the Danapris
and that of the Danastris, there arose a storm and all of them gave up
hope of being saved. His servant Myakes said to him, ‘Behold, O lord,
we are about to die. Make a promise to God for your salvation, so
that, if He gives you back your empire, you will not take revenge on
any of your enemies.’ And he answered in anger, ‘If I spare one of
them, may God drown me right here!’ He came out of that storm
unharmed and entered the river Danube. He then dispatched
Stephen to Terbelis, the lord of Bulgaria, so as to obtain help to
regain his ancestral empire, and promised to give him many gifts and
his own daughter as wife. The latter promised under oath to obey
and co-operate in all respects and, after receiving him with honour,
roused up the entire host of Bulgars and Slavs that were subject to
him. The following year they armed themselves and came to the
Imperial City. I

" Cf. Nik. 42. 1-44.

* Yazid b. Hunain.

* A fort (formerly Sis, now Kozan) north of Anazarbos at the entrance of
a pass of the Anti-Taurus. See TIB 5/1 (1990), 413-16.

3 See Caetani, Chron. 1022, AH 85 (704/5); Brooks, 'Arabs', 191 (from
Tabarl), AH 87 (705/6), naming Yazid b. Djubair and omitting the outcome
of the battle.

4 Recte Aopos as in Nik. and Notit. iii. 42, 611, ed. J. Darrouzes, Notitiae
episcopatuum, 231, 241; Aopv in Prok. Aed. iii. 7.13. Believed to have been
in the uplands of the south-western part of the Crimean peninsula. See L. V.
Firsov, VizVrem 40 (1979), 104-13.

> She must have assumed that name upon her marriage to Justinian.

° The ancient (Pavayopov 7tovis on the Taman peninsula.

? For these two Chazar names see Moravesik, Byzantinoturcica, ii, s.w.

® The Cimmerian Bosporus.

° This must refer to a coastal locality on the strait of Kerch H. Gregoire,
Nouvelle Clio, 4 (1952), 288-92, argues that Top.r\ (cutting) = Taman and
To/.Lrj{v) Tapixa. = Tmutarakan.

x» tv AaaaSa [var. MaaSa, 'AaaSa]: unidentified.

521

374

am 6196 Chronographia

Cf. Arrian, Peripl. 30; DAI 53. 296, 302, 309. Modern Balaklava.

* The correct form in Nik.; all MSS of Theoph. read BaajiaKovpiov. dB
prints BapiofiaKovpiov from Anast. On his extant seals he is styled patrician
and comes of Opsikion: Zacos-Veglery, i/3, nos. 3080A, 3081; Likhacev,
Molivdovuly, 54-5. Presumably the same as the Georgian prince Varaz-
Bakur described as ex-consul (or proconsul) and patrician: Toumanoff,
Studies, 421-2, 424-5, 427.

° The Karkinitic gulf, described in DAI 42. 5, 69, 79 as 'a great gulf...
where it is utterly impossible for a man to pass through’. Note that the best
MS of DAI (P= Paris, gr. 2009) writes consistently NeKponYjXa, not
NtKpoirvXa as printed by the editors.

AM 6197 [AD 704/5]

Year of the divine Incarnation 697

Apsimaros, emperor of the Romans (7 years), 7th year
Abimelech, leader of the Arabs (22 years), 22nd year
Kallinikos, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 12th year

Il In this year Abimelech, the leader of the Arabs, died and his son
Oualid assumed power.Il@

IllIn the same year Justinian reached theTmperial City together
with Terbelis and the latter's Bulgars, and they encamped from the
Charsian gate’ as far as the Blachernai. For three days they parleyed
with the inhabitants of the City, who insulted them and refused any
terms. Justinian, however, together with a few of his countrymen
made his way in, without fighting, through the aqueduct’ and, after
raising a shout of 'Dig up the bones!’, he won the City. For a short
time he established his residence in the palace of Blachernai.I\”

" Cf. Chr. 819, 9, AG 1016 (corrected by Chabot from 1019); Chr. 846, 581, AG 1016;
Mich. Syr. ii. 478, AG 1017 (corrected by Chabot from 1014); Chr. ri)4, 232, AH 87, AG
1017; Elias Nis. 75 (AH 86). Cf. Nik. 42. 44-9.

* The present Adrianople gate: Janin, CP, 281-2.

* Which enters the city near the Adrianople Gate. See K. O. Dalman, Der
Valens-Aquiidukt in Konstantinopel (Bamberg, 1933), 8. Chr. Alt. 108 dates
the deposition of Apsimar to 21 Aug. [705]. See P. Grierson, DOP 16 (1962),
51 andAM 6198, n. 4.

[AM 6198, AD 705/6]

Justinian, emperor of the Romans for the second time (6 years), 1st year
Oualid, leader of the Arabs (9 years), 1st year
Kyros, bishop of Constantinople (6 years),’ 1st year

52,2

Chronographia AM 62,05

In this year Justinian regained the Empire’ and, after giving many
gifts and imperial vessels to Terbelis,? dismissed him in peace.
Apsimaros abandoned the City* and fled to Apollonias,’ but was pur-
sued, apprehended, and brought to Justinian. 1 Herakleios, too, was
brought in fetters from Thrace together with all the commanders
who supported his side, and all of them were impaled on the walls.
Justinian also sent emissaries to the interior and, after finding many
of them who were either in office or out of office, likewise put them
to death. As for Apsimaros and Leontios, he caused them to be
paraded in chains through the whole City, and while games were
being held in the Hippodrome and he himself was sitting on the
throne, they were dragged publicly and thrown at his feet; and he
trod on their necks until the end of the first race while the people
cried, 'You have set your foot on the asp and the basilisk, and you
have trodden on the lion and the serpent\'"* He then sent them to the
Kynegion to be beheaded.° He blinded the patriarch Kallinikos and
banished him to Rome; and in his stead he appointed Kyros, who had
been a hermit on the island of Amastris,’ for having predicted to him
his restoration to a second reign. He also destroyed a numberless
multitude from both the civilian and military registers:* some he
threw into sacks and caused to die painfully in the sea, others he
invited to lunch or to dinner and, as soon as they rose from the table,
either impaled them or beheaded them. So everyone was seized by
great fear.

He also sent a fleet to bring his wife from the land of the Chazars
and many ships sank together with their crews. When the Chagan
had heard of this, he sent him this message: 'O fool, could you not
have taken your wife on two or three ships without killing so great
a multitude? Do you think that you are taking her, too, by war?
Behold, a son has been born to you. Send your emissaries and take
them away.’ So he sent the cubicularius Theophylaktos and brought
Theodora and her son Tiberius and crowned them; and they reigned
jointly with him.I\?

a Ps. 90(91): 13. > Cf. Nik. 42. 49-77. The story of the mission to bring
Justinian's wife and son to Constantinople occurs, strangely enough (from a Greek
source?), in Mich. Syr. ii. 478 and Agapios, 237-8.

" Sept. 705-Dec. 711.

* A repeat from the previous entry. C. Head, Byz 39 (1969), 104-7, argues
that Justinian's restoration occurred in the spring of 705. She does so
because she believes that Justinian became emperor on 10 July 685 (but that
is not absolutely certain: cf. AM 6177, n. 1) and because of the existence
of copper coins dated to his 20th year, some of which, in addition to the

523

375

am 6208 Chronogra phia

imperial bust, also bear that of the young Tiberius: Grierson, Catal. DO, ii.
655, 657. Theoph. implies that at the time of his restoration Justinian was
unaware of the birth of his son. See also n. 4 below.

3 Theoph. omits to say that Justinian conferred on Tervel the title of
Caesar (confirmed by a seal: Zacos-Veglery, no. 2672) and that the two of
them sat side by side and received the homage of the people of
Constantinople (these details in Nik.]. See also Parastaseis, c. 37 and Souda,
S.V. BovXyapoi.

4 See AM 6197, n. 2. Ifthe date 21 Aug. refers to his arrest rather than to
his flight, it can accord with Justinian's restoration before 10 July 705.

> Perhaps Apollonia ad Rhyndacum (Apolyont) rather than several other
towns of Asia Minor bearing the same name.

° On 15 Feb. according to Chr. Alt. 108. Cf. P. Grierson, DOP 16 (1962),
51-

7 At Amastris there are two small off-shore islands, one now joined to the
mainland and walled on the landward side, the other (called Biiyukada)
deserted. See S. Eyice, Kiigiik Amasra tarihi (Ankara, 1965), 8 f., who notes
the existence of ruins, perhaps of a monastery, on the latter island.

8 On this passage, cf. Cameron, Circus Factions, 119; Haldon,
Praetorians, 264.

[am 6199, ad 706/7]

Justinian, 2nd year

Oualid, 2nd year

Kyros, 2nd year

John, bishop of Jerusalem (30 years), 2nd year’

Il In this year Oualid seized the most holy cathedral of Damascus.? The
wretched man did this out of envy of the Christians, because this
church was surpassingly beautiful.Il@ He also forbade that the registers
of the public offices should be written in Greek; instead, they were to
be expressed in Arabic,? except for the numerals, because it is impos-
sible in their language to write a unit or a pair or a group of three or

or 3 (?).4 For this reason they have Christian notaries until this day 11

" Cf. Chr. 1234, 232. 22-6 (immediately on Walld's accession); Mich. Syr. ii. 481,
Agapios, 238. Elias Nis. 75 records the building of the mosque of Damascus in AH 88.
> Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 481, AG 1022; Chr. 1234, 233. 1-4, AG 1019; Agapios, 238 (without

mention of the numerals],

* Cf. above, p. Ixxiii. Theoph. must have forgotten to enter John's 1st year
under AM 6198.

* The mosque of Damascus was begun in AH 86 (705); it was enlarged by
the addition of the cathedral of St John in AH 88 (706/7): Caetani, Chron.
1037, 1065.

524

Chronographia AM 62,05

3 Cf. Caetani, Chron. 972, 1110, AH 81 (700/1) and 91 (709/10). See also
below, AM 6251.

4 'Three’ should perhaps be emended to ‘one third.’ On this passage see K.
Krumbacher, 'Woher stammt das Wort Ziffer (chiffre)?' Bibl. de 1'Ecole des
Hautes Etudes, Sciencesphilol et hist. 92 (1892), 351-2.

am 6200 [ad 707/8]

Year of the divine Incarnation 700

Justinian, emperor of the Romans (6 years), 3rd year
Oualid, leader of the Arabs (9 years), 3rd year

Kyros, bishop of Constantinople (6 years), 3rd year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (30 years), 3rd year

IlIn this year Justinian broke the peace between the Romans and the
Bulgars and, after ferrying the cavalry themata across to Thrace and
fitting out a fleet, set out against Terbelis and his Bulgars.’ When he
had reached Anchialos, he anchored his fleet in front of the fortress
and commanded that the cavalry should encamp in the plains above,
without guard or any suspicion. As the army scattered in the fields
like sheep to collect hay, the Bulgarian spies saw from the moun-
tains the senseless disposition of the Romans. Gathering together
like wild beasts, they suddenly attacked and inflicted great losses on
the Roman flock, taking many captives, horses, and arms in addition
to those they killed. As for Justinian, he sought refuge in the fortress
with the survivors and for three days kept the gates shut. On seeing
the perseverance of the Bulgars, he was the first to cut the sinews of
his horse and ordered the others to do the same. After setting up tro-
phies on the walls, he embarked at night and stealthily sailed away,
and so reached the City in shame. II"

° Cf nik. 43.

* For the campaign of 708 see Besevliev Protobulg. Periode, 196.

[am 6201, ad 708/9]

Justinian, 4th year
Oualid, 4th year
Kyros, 4th year
John, 4th year

Illn this year Masalmas’ and Abas” made an expedition against
Tyana, incensed as they were on account of Maiouma's army that

525

377

am 6201 Chronographia

had been slain by Marianos;? and, after laying siege to the town, they
wintered there. The emperor sent against them two generals,
namely Theodore Karteroukas and Theophylaktos Salibas with an
army and a throng of peasant militia so as to fight and expel them.
Rent by mutual dissensions, they made a disorderly attack and were
routed; many thousands perished and many more were taken cap-
tive. The Arabs seized the camp equipment and the provisions and
continued the siege until they had taken the city:* for they had been
short of food and were on the point of departing. On seeing this, the
inhabitants of Tyana gave up hope. They accepted a promise of
immunity and came out to the Arabs, leaving the city deserted until
this very day. The Arabs did not keep their promise and drove some
of them into the desert, keeping many others as slaves. II*

2 Cf. Nik. 44. 1-18 (with notable differences, on which see our commentary on
Nik. 201-2). Independent account in Mich. Syr. ii. 478 and Chr. 1234, 232. 26-34, 4¢
1019 (the latter mentioning the Roman general Theophylaktos|; Agapios, 238-9.

* Maslamah b. Abd al-Malik.

* Al- Abbas b. al-Walld mentioned as joint commander by Elias Nis. 76
and Arabic sources. Nik. names Solymas (Sulaiman) as second commander.

3 This presumably refers to the Arab defeat recorded under AM 6196. One
of the victims was Maymun the Mardaite, emir of Antioch: Caetani, Chron.
1022, AH 85.

* According to Mich. Syr., Tyana fell in Mar. after a siege of nine months;
May-June according to Tabari (Brooks, ‘Arabs’, 192). See also Stratos, vi.
156-8; Lilie, 116-18.

> This statement was probably contained in the source of Theoph.

am 6202 [ad 709/10]

Year of the divine Incarnation 702
Justinian, 5thyear

Oualid, 5th year

Kyros, 5th year

John, 5thyear

Il In this year Abas made an expedition against the Roman country and,
after taking many captives, returned home. 11? Het began to build Garis
in the region of Helioupolis.|Ilfa

" Cf. Elias Nis. 76 (AH 90]; Agapios, 239. > Cf. Chr. 8rg, 9; Chr. 846, 176
(‘AIn Gera - Anjar).

* The Caliph Walld rather than Abbas.
526

Chronographia AM 6203

[am 6203, ad 710/n]

Justinian, 6thyear
Oualid, 6thyear
Kyros, 6th year
John, 6thyear

Il In this year Outhman’t made an expedition against Cilicia and took
many forts by capitulation.il2 Kamachon? and the surrounding country
were betrayed to the Arabs.$

IIMotivated as he was by malice and remembering the conspiracy
that had been made against him by the inhabitants of Cherson, the
Bosporus and the other Klimata, Justinian sent to Cherson the patri-
cian Mauros‘ and the patrician Stephen surnamed Asmiktos. He fit-
ted out a great fleet of every kind of ship—dromones, triremes,
transports, fishing boats, and even chelandia—from contributions
raised by the senators, artisans, ordinary people, and all the officials
that lived in the City. He sent forth the fleet with orders to put to
the sword all the inhabitants of those forts and leave no one alive;
and he handed to them the spatharios Elias, who was to be appointed
governor of Cherson. Having arrived at Cherson and meeting with
no resistance, they occupied the forts and put everyone to the sword,
except for the children, whom they spared because of their age so as
to make slaves of them. As for Toudounos,’® who was governor of
Cherson and representative of the Chagan, and Zoilos, who was by
descent First Citizen, and another forty prominent men of Cherson
together with their families,° they sent them prisoners to the
emperor. Another seven distinguished men of Cherson they affixed
to wooden spits and roasted them over the fire; and another twenty
they bound with their arms behind their backs and, after tying them
to the oar-straps of a chelandion, filled it with stones and sank it in
the sea. When Justinian had been informed of these things, he was
incensed that the children had been spared and ordered the expedi-
tion to return with all speed. The fleet set sail in the month of
October and was overtaken on the high sea by a storm at the rise of
the star called Taurouras.’ Very nearly the whole fleet sank, and the
men who perished in the shipwreck numbered 73,000. When
Justinian had been informed of this, instead of being distressed, he
was filled with joy. Being still possessed by this frenzy, he threat-
ened with loud cries that he would send another fleet and mow
everyone down to the ground, to the last man that pissed against the
wall.’ The inhabitants of those forts heard these things and put
themselves on guard; being obliged to turn against the emperor, they
wrote to the Chagan in Chazaria asking for an army to defend them.

52-7

378

379

380

AM 6203 Chronographia

At this juncture even the spatharios Elias and Bardanes (who had
been banished, but had then been recalled from Kephalonia and was
with the fleet at Cherson) rose up in revolt. Justinian, when he had
learnt of these things, dispatched, at the head of a few dromones, the
patrician George surnamed the Syrian, who was logothete of the
genikon,® the prefect John, and Christopher, turmarch of the
Thrakesians, with 300 armed men. He handed to them Toudounos
and Zoilos with instructions to reinstate them in their former posi-
tions at Cherson, to offer an apology to the Chagan through an
ambassador, and to bring to him Elias and Bardanes. When these
men had crossed over to Cherson, the inhabitants of the city of
Cherson refused to treat with them. The next day the men of the city
invited the leaders alone to come in and, after shutting the gates, put
to the sword the logothete of the genikon and the prefect; as for
Toudounos and Zoilos and the aforesaid turmarch together with the
300 soldiers, they handed them to the Chazars and sent them off to
the Chagan. As Toudounos died on the way, the Chazars in his hon-
our killed the turmarch along with the 300 soldiers. Then the men
of Cherson and of the other forts cursed Justinian and acclaimed as
emperor Philippikos Bardanes, who was exiled there. When
Justinian had learnt of this, he became even more enraged: he
slaughtered the children of Elias in their mother's lap and obliged
her to marry her own cook, who was an Indian. After which, he fit-
ted out another fleet and dispatched the patrician Mauros, called
Bessos, to whom he gave a battering ram and every other kind of
siege engine, with instructions to destroy the walls of Cherson and
the entire town, and not to leave a single soul alive there; further-
more, to inform him of his actions by means of frequent dispatches.
This man, then, crossed the sea and threw down with the battering
ram the tower called Kentenaresios? as well as the adjoining tower
called the Wild Boar,- but as the Chazars arrived on the scene, a truce
was made. Then Bardanes escaped and fled to the Chagan. Being
reduced to inaction, the fleet did not dare return to the emperor; and
so, they, too, cursed Justinian and proclaimed Bardanes emperor.
They also petitioned the Chagan to hand Philippikos to them. The
Chagan insisted on an assurance that they would not betray him and
that he would be paid one gold piece per man; to which they imme-
diately agreed and so received Philippikos as their emperor. As the
fleet was delayed and no dispatch had come, Justinian divined
the cause and, taking along the contingent of Opsikion and part of
the Thrakesians, advanced as far as Sinope’® to reconnoitre the situ-
ation at Cherson. While he was gathering intelligence concerning
the regions across the sea, he saw the fleet sailing in the direction of

528

Chronographia AM 62,05

the City and, with a roar like a lion's, he, too, rushed to the City.
Since Philippikos had overtaken him and seized the City, he came to
Damatrys" and encamped therewith his men. Philippikos, for his
part, immediately sent the patrician Mauros and the spatharios
John, surnamed Strouthos, against Tiberius,- he sent Elias, also with
an armed band, against Justinian at Damatrys; and another man
against Barasbakourios, who had taken to flight. Mauros proceeded
to Blachernai together with the aforesaid Strouthos and found
Tiberius grasping with one hand the little column of the altar table
in the sanctuary of the Virgin Mary and, with the other, the wood of
the cross, wearing, furthermore, phylacteries round his neck, while
his grandmother Anastasia sat outside the bema.” The latter fell at
the feet of Mauros and begged him not to kill her grandson Tiberius
since he had not done any improper deed. Even as she was holding
this man's feet and imploring him with tears, Strouthos entered
within the bema and seized him by force. He took away from him
the wood of the cross and placed it on the altar, while the phylacter-
ies he affixed to his own neck. Leading the boy to the postern which
is above the quarter of Kallinike,’* they stripped him and, stretching
him out on the door-sill, cut his throat as if he were a sheep and
ordered him to be buried in the church of the Holy Anargyroi, which
is called that of Paulina.’* Barasbakourios, who was First Patrician
and comes of Opsikion, was also arrested and killed. As for Elias, he
went up to Damatrys with his soldiers and, after he had parleyed
with the army that was there and given a promise of immunity to
the men that were with Justinian, all of the latter scattered and for-
sook Justinian, leaving him all alone as they joined the side of
Philippikos. Then the aforesaid spatharios Elias rushed up to him
angrily and, seizing him by the neck, cut off his head with the dag-
ger he wore on his belt and sent it to Philippikos in the hands of the
spatharios Romanus. Philippikos dispatched it in the care of the
same Romanus to the countries of the West as far as Rome.II“*

Before he had become emperor, there was at the monastery of
Kallistratos a clairvoyant and heretical monk.’* When once
Philippikos had gone there, he said to him, 'You are destined for the
empire.’ The latter was troubled and the hermit said to him, 'If God
so commands, why do you contradict him? This I say to you, that
the Sixth Council was wrongly enacted. So, if you become emperor,
do cast it down, and your reign is destined to be mighty and long.’
Philippikos promised him under oath to do so. When Leontios had
succeeded Justinian, Philippikos went up to the hermit. The latter
said to him, 'Do not hurry; it is yet to come.’ And when Apsimaros
became emperor, Philippikos went up to him again, and again the

529

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am 6208 Chronogra phia

latter said to him, 'Do not hurry. That thing awaits you.’ Philippikos
confided the secret to one of his friends, who announced it to
Apsimaros. The latter had him flogged, tonsured, fettered, and exiled
to Kephalonia. And when Justinian had become emperor for the sec-
ond time, he recalled him. nAnd when Philippikos had become
emperor, he convened a bogus council of bishops in accordance with
the injunction of the false monk, the hermit, and he cast down the
holy Sixth ecumenical Council. The same year the foolish man was
blinded. He lived a carefree life in the palace where he had found an
abundance of money and splendid belongings that for many years
had been collected by his predecessors as a result of confiscations
and under various pretexts, especially by the aforesaid Justinian, and
these he dissipated at random without taking any trouble. And
whereas in his discourse he appeared to be eloquent and prudent,”
he was proved by his actions to be in every way incompetent, living
as he did in an unseemly and incapable manner. He was also a
heretic and an adulterer. He drove out of the Church the patriarch
Kyros and appointed his accomplice and fellow-heretic John.IK

"Cf. Elias Nis. 76 (AH 91); Agapios, 239. boa Kgs. (2 Sam.) 25: 22, 34- 3 Kgs.
(1 Kgs.) 12: 24, 14:10, 16: 11, 20: 21. © Cf. Nik. 45. 4 Cf. Nik. 46. 1-2.

1 of

Uthman b. al-Walid according to Elias Nis.; 'Uthman b. Hayan accord-
ing to Agapios.

* Kamacha (Kemah), on the left bank of the Euphrates between Tephrike
(Divrigi) and Erzincan. See Honigmann, Ostgrenze, 56. For the site, Sinclair,
Eastern Turkey, ii. 415 ff.

3 See Caetani, Chron. 1110, AH 91 (709/10).

+ Described below as a Thracian (Bessos), Mauros has been identified
with the Bulgarian chieftain of that name, who plays a sinister role in Mir.
Dem., ii. 5 (presumably between 678 and 685). The latter Mauros was
involved in a plot by the Bulgarian chief Kouber to capture Thessalonica.
The plot having failed, Mauros went over to the emperor (Constantine IV)
with the people under his command and was given a title. His treachery
was, however, exposed by his own son. Instead of being executed, he was
deprived of his command and confined to his quarters, presumably in
Thrace. The identification has been supported by a seal (Zacos-Veglery, 934)
naming 'Mauros the patrician, chief ofthe Sermesiani [men o fSirmium] and
Bulgarians’. See Lemerle's commentary, ii. 152 ff. Setting aside the gap of
some 25-30 years between the incident at Thessalonica and the present
entry, it is odd that a man convicted of treachery should have been rein-
stated in his high dignity and enjoyed the favour of Justinian II.

> A title (tudun = viceroy), not a proper name. See Moravesik, ii, s.v.

& avfx.<f>ajxLXovs. For this word cf. Anastasius monachus, ed. F. Nau, OrChr
2 (1902), 87. 20.

7 The tail of the constellation Taurus.

Chronographia AM 62,05

®* The yevLKov Xoyodeowy was the department that collected the taxation
of the Empire. See AM 6186, n. 3.

° The exact connotation of this name, which was applied to big towers,
is unclear. Towers called Kentenarion are attested at: (i) Constantinople,
namely, (a) A tower of the sea walls to which was attached one end of the
chain that guarded the mouth of the Golden Horn: Leo Diac. 79; Patzia, 264,
c. 150 (with false etymology from kentenarion = 100 Ibs. of gold); (b) A tower
of the walls of the Great Palace: Niketas Chon., ed. van Dieten, 346.
Nikolaos Mesarites, Die Palastrevolution des Johannes Komnenos, ed. A.
Heisenberg (Wurzburg, 1907), 27. 25; (ii) Nicaea, mentioned in the inscrip-
tion of Leo m and Constantine V, ed., e.g., A. M. Schneider and W. Karnapp,
Die Stadtmauer von Iznik (Nicaea) (Berlin, 1938) 49, no. 29; (iii) Trebizond.
See F. Uspenskij, Ocerki iz istorii Trapezuntskoj Imperii (Leningrad, 1929),
1S7-
© 'To the coastal village called Gingilissos' according to Nik. 45. 79.
Probably corresponding to modern Samandra, east of the mountain of
St Auxentios (Kayi§dag). See Janin, Grands centres, 50-1. Theoph. omits to
mention the presence at Damatrys of 3,000 Bulgarian men sent as auxil-
iaries by Tervel (Nik. 45. 74).

* Women not being admitted into the sanctuary.

3 'em to) avw tthv KaXXiviK-qs TrapairopTiu). Nik. 48. 2, has els t-qv tov
VITEPKELFI.EVOV Telyovs TTVXISa [77uAiSa omitted by Vatican MS] T1/v KaXovp.evr)v
trov KaXXiviKwv. The postern in question was probably in the destroyed por-
tion of the Theodosian walls to the east of, and on higher ground than the
church of St Mary of Blachernai. Wrongly identified with the Xyloporta by
Van Millingen, Byz. CP, 173-4 and others. If the fem. form Kallinike is cor-
rect, it may refer to the Blachernai Virgin, who brought about the victory
over the Avars in 626.

“The famous church of Sts Kosmas and Damian at Kosmidion, usually,
but probably incorrectly, placed at modern Eytip. Note the fem. name
Paulina (so also in Nik. and most MSS of the Patria, 261 c. 146), which sug-
gests that the church had no connection with Paulinus (magister officiorum
in 430), the companion of Theodosios II, as stated in the Patria. Cf. our
remarks, 'On the Cult of Sts Cosmas and Damian at Constantinople’,
&vp.lap,a err] p.vrif.7) TT) AaOKaplvas MTrovpa (Athens, 1994)/ 189-92.

° The date of Justinian's death is given as 24 Nov. [711] in Chr. Alt. 108;
as 4 Nov. in the presumed Greek original of that document: C. Mango and
I. Sevcenko, DOP 16 (1962), 62. Nov. 711 would correspond to AM 6204.

’ His learning is praised by Mich. Syr. ii. 479; Chr. 1234, 233.

AM 6204 [AD 7il/12]

Year of the divine Incarnation 704
Philippikos, emperor of the Romans (2 years), 1st year
Oualid, leader of the Arabs (9 years), 7thyear

531

AM620s Chronogra phia

John, bishop of Constantinople (3 years), 1st year’
John, bishop of Jerusalem (30 years), 7th year

Il In this year Philippikos drove the Armenians out of his country and
obliged them to settle in Melitene and the Fourth Armenia.|l@2
Masalmas captured Amaseia and other fortified places and took many
captives.IIb3 George, the bishop of Apameia,4 was transferred to
Martyropolis.

IlPhilippikos was not ashamed to make a furious attack on the
holy Sixth ecumenical Council, hastening to subvert the divine doc-
trines that had been confirmed by it. He found allies in John, whom
he made bishop of Constantinople after deposing its bishop Kyros,
whom he confined in the monastery of the Chora; in Germanus who
later occupied the see of Constantinople, but was then bishop of
Kyzikos; Andrew, who was bishop of Crete;? Nicholas who, from
being a servant in charge of cups® became a professor of medicine,
and was at the time quaestor; Elpidios, deacon of the Great Church;
Antiochos the chartophylax, and other men of the same ilk who
anathematized in writing the holy Sixth Council.

Meanwhile, the Bulgarians stealthily threw themselves upon the
Bosporus by way of Philea’ and made great slaughter. They raided as
far as the City and surprised many people who had gone across the
water to celebrate opulent weddings and lavish luncheons with
much silver plate and other equipment. They advanced as far as the
Golden Gate and, after devastating all of Thrace, returned home
unharmed with innumerable cattle.® And likewise, the Arabs occu-
pied Mistheia? and other forts, and captured a great many families
and cattle without number.ll‘

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 482; Chi. 1234, 233. 24-6; Agapios, 240. >’ Cf. Chi. 846,
177, AG ro2i; Mich. Syr. ii. 479, AG 1023; Chi. 1234, 233. 12-15; Agapios, 239.
© Cf. Nik. 46. 2-47. 14.

* John VI, Dec. 711-July/Aug. 715.

* The wording of this sentence is unclear. According to Mich. Syr.,
Philippikos (who was himself an Armenian!) expelled the Armenians from
the Empire, forcing them to seek refuge with the Arabs. It was the latter who
settled them at Melitene and in Armenia IV. Cf. also Caetani, Chion. 1120,
1135, AH 92 (7x0/11) and AH 93 (711/12).

> Cf. Brooks, Arabs’, 193, AH 93.

* Presumably Melkite bishop.

> Andrew, a native of Damascus, was the most important preacher and
liturgical poet of his time. After the fall of Philippikos he repented of his
error and returned to orthodoxy. See H.-G. Beck, Kiiche und theologische
Liteiatui im byzant. Reich (Munich, 1959), 500 ff.

532

Chronographia AM 62,05

® (%p KavKoSiaKovwv. The sophist Nicholas is mentioned among the sup-
porters of Philippikos by Germanus, De haer. et synodis, PG 98: 76B.

7 A village on a lake of the same name (modern Derkos). See A.
Sargologos, La ViedeS. Cyrille le Phileote, Subs. hag. 39 (1964), 16.

® According to Agathon the deacon, Mansi, xii. 193B = ACO and ser. ii/2
(1992), 900, the raid was caused by the non-payment of tribute due to the
Bulgarians.

° In Lykaonia, modern Bey§ehir. See TIB 4: 205-6. For the capture of
Mistheia see Chr. 846, 177, AG 1021; Brooks, 'Arabs', 193 n. 3, AH 93
(Samastiyya),- Lilie, 120.

[AM 6205, AD 712/13]

Philippikos, 2nd year
Oualid, 8thyear
John, 2nd year

John, 8 th year

Il In this year Abas made an expedition against the Roman country and
took Antioch in Pisidia,1 where he made many prisoners; and he
returned home.l|l$ There was a violent earthquake in Syria on the 28th,
of the month Peritios. 11>

I Philippikos having meanwhile reigned two years,” when the hip-
podrome games of the City's birthday’ had been celebrated and the
Greens had won, the emperor decided to make on the Saturday of
Pentecost* an entry on horseback, to bathe in the public baths of
Zeuxippos and to lunch with citizens of ancient lineage. While he
was having his siesta, Rufus, protostrator of Opsikion, suddenly
entered through the Golden Gate with the soldiers of the same
thema that he had in Thrace? (at the behest of the patrician George
surnamed Bouraphos, who was comes of Opsikion, and of the patri-
cian Theodore Myakios) and, having rushed into the palace, found
Philippikos asleep. He seized him and carried him to the ornatorion®
of the Greens, where he blinded him, without anyone being aware of
this. The next day, that is on Pentecost, the people gathered in the
Great Church, and Artemios, the protoasekretis, was crowned
emperor and renamed Anastasios. On Saturday after Pentecost
Theodore Myakes was blinded, and the following Saturday George
Bouraphos was also blinded, and they were exiled to Thessalonica. I 1°

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 479, presumably in AG 1023; Elias Nis. 76 (AH 94); Agapios, 240.
> Cf. Chr. 819, 10, AG 1024, 28 Shebat (Feb.); Mich. Syr. ii. 481, likewise; Chr. 846,
177; Chr. ri34, 233. 32-5; Agapios, 240. Peritios = Feb. in the calendar of Antioch.
© Cf. Nik. 48.

533

AM620s Chronogra phia

Cf. Brooks, ‘Arabs’, 194, AH 94.

See AM 6207, n. 10.

11 May.

3 June 713, confirmed by Agathon the deacon, Mansi, xii. 193B = ACO
and ser. ii/2 (1992), goo. Nik. implies that the overthrow of Philippikos took
place on the day of the ‘birthday games’. Unless the games were for some
reason postponed, the gap between 11 May and 3 June is hard to explain. Cf.
our comment on Nik., p. 205.

> Agathon, ibid., explains that the army was in Thrace because of a Bulgar
attack.

° The place where was kept the urna for drawing lots as to which chariot
would have which place at the start of the games. See Cer. 312. 5 and
Reiske's note, ii. 318-19; A. D. E. Cameron, Porphyrias the Charioteer
(Oxford, 1973), 63. The urna is represented schematically in the 'Kugelspiel'
relief, now in the Berlin Museum, reproduced by Cameron, pi. 15.

AM 6206 [AD 713/14]

Year of the divine Incarnation 706

Artemios, emperor of the Romans (2 years), 1st year
Oualid, leader of the Arabs (9 years), 9th year

John, bishop of Constantinople (3 years), 3rd year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (30 years), 9th year

Il In this year Masalmas made a raid into the Roman country and, after
devastating Galatia,1 returned home with captives and much booty.II$

uArtemios, for his part, appointed very able strategoi of the cav-
alry themata and learned officials to fill civil posts, and so remained
secure. And as the Arabs were preparing an armament against the
Roman country by land and by sea, the emperor sent a number of
dignitaries to Oualid in Syria on the pretext of negotiating peace,”
(among them) Daniel Sinopites, the patrician and prefect of the City,
whom he instructed to inform himself thoroughly concerning the
expedition against the Roman country and the enemy's strength.
When this man had gone and come back, he reported to the emperor
their great armament of land and sea forces. (Then the emperor com-
manded) that each man should store provisions for himself up to a
period of three years, and anyone not having the means to do so
should leave the City. He appointed overseers and started building
dromones, (fire-carrying) biremes (and great triremes). He restored
the sea walls? and likewise the land walls, and set up on the towers
catapults for darts and stones and other engines. Having fortified the
City as much as he was able, he stored a great quantity of produce in
the imperial depots and so made himself safe. I

534

Chzonogiaphia AM 6207

" Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 479, AG 1026; Elias Nis. 77 (AH 97); Agapios, 240. DICE
Nik. 49.

" Cf. Caetani, Chron. 1147, 1177, AH 94 (712/13) and 96.
* Tbid. 1162, AH 95 (713/14).
3 The repair of the sea walls is ascribed to Apsimaros in Parast., 20, c. 3.

[AM 6207, AD 714/15]

Artemios, 2nd year

Souleiman, leader of the Arabs (3 years), 1st year
Germanus, bishop of Constantinople (15 years), 1st year’
John, 10thyear

II tn this year Oualid died? and Souleiman succeeded to the throne.11]@

In the same 2nd year of the reign of Artemios (who was also called
Anastasios), on 1 August of the 13th indiction Germanus was
transferred from the metropolitan see of Kyzikos to the see of
Constantinople. On that occasion the following decree of transla-
tion’? was issued: 'By the choice and approbation of the reverend
presbyters and deacons, of all the pious clergy, of the sacred Senate
and the Christ-loving people of this God-guarded Imperial City,
God's Grace, which always cures what is ailing and supplies what is
wanting, hereby transfers Germanus, the most holy bishop of the
metropolis of Kyzikos to become bishop of this God-guarded
Imperial City. The present translation took place in the presence of
Michael, the most-holy presbyter and legate of the Apostolic See,*
and of other priests and bishops, in the reign of Artemios.’

nOn being informed that a Saracen fleet had sailed up from
Alexandria to Phoinix? with a view to cutting cypress wood,
Artemios chose the swiftest vessels of his own fleet, manned them
with soldiers of the Opsikion thema, and ordered that they should
all assemble at Rhodes. He appointed as their commander and head
John the deacon of the Great Church, nicknamed Papa-Ioannakis,
who was at that time logothete of the genikon. When this man had
reached Rhodes and the fleet had assembled, he conferred with the
officers with a view to their setting out for Phoinix so as to burn the
timber and the armament of the Hagarenes that was there. While
everyone else readily obeyed, the men of Opsikion refused to do so:
they cursed the emperor and killed the deacon John with their
swords. The fleet consequently dispersed and each squadron sailed
off to its own station, while the evil-doers moved against the
Imperial City. When they had come to Adramytion, being leaderless,
they found there a local man called Theodosios, who was a collector

535

385

386

am 6208 Chronogra phia

of public taxes, an idle and ordinary fellow,° whom they urged to
become emperor. He ran away and hid on a mountain, but they
found him and acclaimed him emperor by force.

When Artemios had been informed of these things, he appointed
men of his household to positions of command in the City and over
the fleet he had built and, after arming them, departed himself to the
city of Nicaea, where he made himself secure. Now the rebels, when
they had arrived and stirred up the whole thema of Opsikion as well
as the Gothograeci,’ apprehended a great number of big and small
merchant vessels and came up to Chrysopolis by land and sea. The
City fleet was stationed at the harbour of St Mamas,° and for six
months they fought one another every day. When, however, the City
fleet moved its moorings to the urban harbour of Neorion,
Theodosios crossed over and occupied the region of Thrace. And, as
a result of treachery, they took the City through the gate of the sin-
gle wall of the Blachernai.’ The lawless soldiers of Opsikion and the
Gothograeci raided by night the houses of the citizens and wrought
great havoc without respect for anything. They arrested Artemios’
officers who were in the City as well as Germanus, patriarch of
Constantinople, and brought them to Nicaea as evidence before
Artemios and his companions. When Artemios had seen them, he
gave up hope and surrendered himself on obtaining a promise of
immunity; and he assumed the habit of a monk. Theodosios kept
him unharmed and exiled him to Thessalonica. u”

Philippikos reigned 2 years 9 months,’® Artemios 1 year 3
months." Now Leo, who was strategos of the Anatolics, remained
on the side of Artemios and did not submit to Theodosios. He
enjoyed the support and co-operation of the Armenian Artabasdos,
strategos of the Armeniacs, to whom he promised to give his daugh-
ter in marriage—a promise he carried out.”

Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 479; Chr. 819, io; Chr. 846,177; Elias Nis. 77; Chr. 1234, 233-4.
6 Cf. Nik. 50-1. Independent account in Chr. 1234, 234. 3-16 and, more briefly, in
Mich. Syr. ii. 479.

" Germanus was transferred to Constantinople on 1 Aug. 715, which
corresponds to the 3rd (from 4 June 713), not the 2nd year of Artemios. G. V.
Sumner, GRBS 17 (1976), 290, wishes to redate this event to 714 because in
Aug. 715 the emperor had withdrawn to Nicaea and Constantinople was
under siege by a rebel fleet. The naval engagements mentioned by Theoph.
may not, however, have amounted to a siege. Unfortunately, we do not have
an exact date for the death or deposition of Germanus' predecessor, John VI,
who is given a tenure of 3 years (starting in Dec. 711?). See Van Dieten,
Patriarchen, 172 f.

> 25 Feb. 715.

536

Chronographia AM 62,05

3 KiTQTopiv (citatorium) li.eTadeai/.i.ov, presumably preserved in the patri-
archal archives. For the term cf. J. Duncan, Coislin 213. Euchologe de la
Grande Eglise (Rome, 1983), 42.

* Of Rome.

> Perhaps the Phoinix of the Rhodian Peraia (modern Fenaket) rather
than Phoinix (Finike) on the south coast of Lycia.

° Or, possibly, 'a private citizen who was fond of quiet’ (CITTpay/wa re
Kal (SioiTTjv). Sumner, op. cit. 292, argues that Theodosios, far from being
an obscure tax-collector, was actually the son of Tiberius III Apsimaros. He
does so because (1) according to Chr. Alt., 109, Theodosios became after his
abdication bishop of Ephesos, et mortuus est ac sepultus in templo sancti
Phylippi, in antiqua utbe iuxta portum, faciens mirabilia in sepultura; (2)
a Theodosios, bishop of Ephesos, described as son of Apsimaros, presided
over the iconoclastic Council of Hiereia in 754 (below, AM 6245). The iden-
tification is unlikely on several counts. It makes Theodosios survive nearly
40 years after his abdication. It does not explain why the iconoclast bishop
is called 'son of Apsimaros' instead of former emperor. It forces us to sup-
pose that the grave of a heretic worked miracles. We are inclined to believe
that the emperor Theodosios did die at Ephesos as a cleric, not a bishop,
and was buried in the church of St Philip 'next to the harbour in the old
city’ (confirmed by Kedr. i. 787 f.). He later enjoyed a reputation for his
great piety (eg. Syn. CP 828. 25), irreconcilable with having been a leading
iconoclast.

7 Also mentioned in the Acta of Sts David, Symeon, and George (gth
cent.), AnBoll 18 (1899), 256. The Gothograeci appear to have been descen-
dants of the Gothic Optimati settled in Bithynia. The later thema of the
8 On the European side of the Bosporus at modern Dolmabahge rather than
BeSikta§.

° i.e. the forward wall built after the siege of 626 to protect the church of
St Mary of Blachernai: Chron. Pasch. 726; Nik. 13. 40-1.

** Incorrect pace P. Grierson, DOP it (1962), 52. Perhaps 1 year 9 months
if the length of his reign was reckoned from the time of his proclamation at
Cherson (in Sept. 711?). Cf. Brooks, BZ 6 (1897), 52; G. V. Sumner, GRBS 17
(1976), 287-9.

"Also incorrect. Artemios (proclaimed 4 June 713) reigned more than
two years if the translation of Germanus to Constantinople is correctly
dated to 1 Aug. 715. Cf. also Grierson, Catal. DO ii/2. 683, no. 23. Mich.
Syr. ii. 479, gives him a reign of 2 years 5 months, which would place his
abdication in c. Nov. 715. This date is accepted by Sumner, op. cit. 290 f.

* Repeated below, am 6209, p. 545.

537

387

388

AM 6208 Chronogra phia

AM 6208 [AD 715/16]

Year of the divine Incarnation 708

Theodosios, emperor of the Romans (1 year), 1st year
Souleiman, leader of the Arabs (3 years), 2nd year
Germanus, bishop of Constantinople (15 years), 2nd year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (30 years), nth year

In this year Masalmas made an expedition against Constantinople.
He sent in front of him Souleiman’ with a land army and Oumaros
by sea,” while he himself followed them with much military equip-
ment. When Souleiman and Bakcharos? had reached Amorion, they
wrote the following to Leo, strategos of the Anatolics: 'We know
that the Roman Empire befits you. Come, therefore, to us and let us
confer about peace.’ Souleiman observed that Amorion had no army
and was ina state of enmity with the strategos because of the latter's
support of Artemios,- so he laid siege to it, intending to await
Masalmas there. When he had drawn close to the city, the Saracens
began to acclaim the strategos Leo as emperor and they urged those
inside to do the same. On seeing that the Saracens were acclaiming
him fervently, the people of Amorion acclaimed him too. Now the
strategos knew that in the absence of regular soldiers and officers
Amorion was about to be lost, so he sent this message to Souleiman:
‘If you want me to come to you so as to confer about peace, why are
you besieging the city?’ The latter replied: 'Do but come, and I will
depart.’ So, after obtaining a promise from him, the strategos came
before him with 300 horsemen. When the Hagarenes saw him, they
put on their corselets and armour and met him; and he encamped
half a mile away from their army. For three days he would come for-
ward to them, and they negotiated about peace and their departing
from the city. But they said: "Once you have ratified the peace, we
shall depart." The strategos perceived, however, that they were
intending to seize him, so he invited many of the prominent
Saracens to dinner. While they were eating, Souleiman dispatched
3,000 men in corselets to surround him and keep guard lest he
escape. His watch became aware of this and reported to him, 'A mul-
titude of mounted Saracens are standing round us.’ One of these
horsemen, called Zouber, came forward and, standing in front of
him, said: 'A slave of ours has stolen much money and fled, and on
his account we have mounted our horses.’ But the strategos under-
stood their crafty deceit and replied: 'Do not be troubled. No matter

where he goes among our forts, we shall find him.' Distressed as he
was, he managed to convey this message secretly through one of his
men to the inhabitants of Amorion: 'For the fear of God, do not sur-

538

Chionogzaphia AM 6121

render. For, behold, Masalmas is drawing near.’ The bishop, too,
came out to see him, and he told him the same. When Souleiman had
been informed that the bishop had come out to see him, he sent this
message to the stiategos, namely, 'Give us the bishop.’ But he, cor-
nered as he was, hid the bishop and said to one of his men: 'While we
are talking, put another garment on him and let him go into the
mountains as if to fetch wood or water.’ And as the Saracens were
insisting about the bishop, the stiategos said: 'He is not here. But go
to the emir, and | shall come, too, and we shall discuss everything.’
Thinking that when he went in to see the emir they would seize him
in their midst, they let him go. Mounting horses, he and 200 of his
men turned to the left as if going on a hunt. The Saracens who accom-
panied him asked, 'Where are you going?’ He replied, 'I wish to move
my camp to the meadows.’ They said, "Your intention is not a good
one. We are not coming with you.' Then the stiategos said to his
men, ‘After giving us their word, they wanted to seize us and,
through us, to ruin the Christians. But they will not take any of the
men or horses that are left to us.' And going ten miles, he encamped
there. The next day he sent the domesticus of his grooms* and
declared to the Arabs: "You gave me your word, yet intended to seize
me by deceit. This is why I departed.’ Now Masalmas had already
gone over the mountain passes,’ but Souleiman was not aware of
this. The emirs and the soldiers rose up against Souleiman, saying,
"Why are we investing the walls instead of raiding?’ And, taking
down their tents, they departed. Meanwhile the stiategos introduced
the turmarch Nikaias with 800 soldiers into Amorion and ejected
most of the women and children. And he himself went off to Pisidia.

When Masalmas had come to Cappadocia, the Cappadocians
despaired of their own safety and went out towards him begging him
to take them. But Masalmas, hearing of the hostility which the
emperor Theodosios felt towards the stiategos, wished to entrap the
latter and make peace with him, and through him to subjugate the
Roman country. So he said to them, 'Do you not belong to the stiat-
egos’.' They answered 'Yes.'—'And will you do whatever he does?’—
"Yes.' Then he said to them, 'Go back to your forts and have no fear
of anyone.’ And he instructed his army not to raid in any of the
provinces of the stiategos.° When he had heard of this, the stiategos
realized that Souleiman would report to Masalmas that he had left
him and departed, and so he sent a letter to Masalmas, saying, 'I
wanted to come in your presence. But Souleiman, when I had gone
towards him, intended to seize me, and now | am afraid of coming to
you.’ Then Masalmas said to the servant of the stiategos, '| know
that the stiategos is tricking me so that I should not devastate at all

539

390

AM 6208 Chronogra phia

his provinces.’ The servant of the strategos replied to him, ‘This is
not so. He has written you truthfully.’ Then the other one asked,
‘How is Amorion disposed towards him?’ Reply: 'Well, and in sub-
jection to him.’ Masalmas became angry and insulted him, saying,
"Why are you lying?’ He answered, ‘It is as I have said. And he has
placed his soldiers and a turmarch therein, and removed the surplus
families.’ Masalmas was greatly grieved by this and drove him out in
anger; for he was intending to take Amorion in the summer and
await his fleet, and then go down to Asia and winter there. So he
summoned once more the servant of the strategos and interrogated
him a second time. The latter told him under oath, 'Everything |
have said to you is true. Indeed, 1,000 soldiers have entered there
with their turmarch. And he has removed thence all the goods of the
inhabitants and the indigent families.’ On hearing this, Masalmas
wrote to the strategos, 'Come into my presence, and I shall make
peace with you and do everything as you wish.’ Observing that
Masalmas had approached Masalaios’? and in another five days
would march past his provinces, the strategos sent two consuls® to
him with this message, 'I have received your letter and approved
your intention. Behold, I am coming to you. But, as you know, I am
a strategos and | shall have money, silver and soldiers in my train.
Send me your word concerning each one of these. And if my affairs
are settled as I desire them from you, well and good; if not, I shall, at
least, return unharmed and unmolested.’ When the consuls reached
him at Theodosiana,? Masalmas said to them, 'I knew that your
strategos was tricking me.' But they replied, ‘Not at all.' Then he
delivered the promise they had sought and dismissed them. So,
while the consuls were proceeding to the strategos with the signed
promise, Masalmas, being at the head of a great multitude and
unable to stop anywhere, arrived at Akroinos.’® Now the strategos,
on seeing that he had gone beyond his provinces, went off to
Nicomedia. He chanced upon the son of Theodosios and appre-
hended him together with the entire imperial household and the
palace dignitaries. Masalmas, for his part, went down to Asia and
wintered there, and Oumaros did so in Cilicia.

Now the strategos, taking along the emperor's son, held counsel
with his companions and came to Chrysopolis. On being informed
of these events, Theodosios conferred with the patriarch Germanus
and the Senate, and received through the same patriarch a promise
of his immunity from Leo (and an undertaking that he would pre-
serve the Church undisturbed), and so he handed the Empire to him.
Theodosios and his son became clergymen and spent the remainder
of their lives in peace."

540

Chronographia AM 62,05

uNow Masalmas came to Pergamon, which he besieged and, by
God's dispensation, captured” because of the Devil's machinations.
For, at the instigation of a magician, the inhabitants of the city pro-
duced a pregnant woman who was about to give birth and cut her up.
And after removing her infant and cooking it in a pot, all those who
were intending to fight dipped the sleeve of their right arm in this
detestable sacrifice, and for this reason they were delivered to the
enemy. II"

9 Cf. Nik. 53.

* Sulayman b. Mu'ad. Cf. Brooks, 'Campaign’, 24. Mich. Syr. ii. 484 con-
fuses him with the Caliph. It is possible that the beginning of this entry is
derived from the Oriental source. Cf. Chi. 1234, 234. 36 ff.: Et piaecepit
Maslamas Soleimano filio Mawidae et Bochtaiio ut aiida piocedeient,
Omaio autem filio Hubaiiae, maii. Piogiessi sunt Bochtaiius et
Soleimanus et veneiunt usque Amoiium civitatem. The greater part of the
entry reads, however, like an eyewitness account.

* "Umar b. Hubaira.

> Al-Bakhtari b. al-Hassan named in Agapios, 241. For the main Arabic
sources see Brooks, 'Campaign’.

4 For thematic domestici see Oikonomides, Listes, 341; Haldon,
Piaetoiians, 214, 230 f.

> Of the Tauros.

® ie. the Thema Anatolikon. A similar statement in Chi. 1234, 235.
8-10.

7 Situation unknown. Also mentioned as a kastion and a place of exile
in V. Nicet. Medic. xxxE. Cf. TIB 7:336.

® inTaTovs, that is persons bearing the honorary title of consul, which in
the 9th cent, was 7th from the bottom in the palatine hierarchy. Cf.
Oikonomides, Listes, 296.

° Situation unknown. See Ramsay, Geogi. 356.

© Modern Afyon Karahisar: TIB 7: 177 f. We may deduce from this pas-
sage that Akroinon lay outside the Anatolic Theme, although it is usually
marked as being within it on maps representing the extent of the themes,
e.g. Cambiidge Med. Hist, iv/i (1966), 69.

"See AM 6207, n. 6.

” Chi. 819, 10, AG 1027; Chi. 846, 177 and Mich. Syr. ii. 483 record the
capture of Pergamon as well as Sardis. See C. Foss, Byzantine and Tuikish
Saidis (Cambridge, Mass., 1976), 60 f.

AM 6209 [AD 716/17]

Year of the divine Incarnation 709
Leo the Isaurian, emperor of the Romans (24 years), 1st year
Souleiman, 3rd year

541

391

392

AM620s Chronogra phia

Germanus, 3rd year
John, 12th year

In this year Leo, whose place of origin was Germanikeia—in reality
Isauria—became emperor.” Justinian, during his first reign,
removed him, together with his parents, to Mesembria in Thrace.’
And when Justinian became emperor for the second time and was
marching down with the Bulgarians,* Leo met him and gave him a
present of 500 sheep. Thus conciliated, Justinian immediately
named him spatharios and had him as a close friend. Certain envi-
ous people accused him of seeking the crown, but were shamefully
exposed as slanderers after an inquiry had been made into this mat-
ter. Yet, from that time on, this rumour began to be spread about by
many people. Now Justinian did not wish to harm him openly, but
conceived some sort of aversion towards him and dispatched him to
Alania with a sum of money so as to rouse up the Alans against
Abasgia: for the Saracens were in control of Abasgia, Lazica, and
Iberia.» When he had gone to Lazica, he deposited the money at
Phasis and, taking a few natives with him, proceeded to Apsilia,°
crossed the Caucasian mountains, and reached Alania. Wishing to
destroy him, Justinian sent instructions for the money to be
removed from Phasis. The Alans, however, received the spatharios
with great honour and, obeying his words, invaded and captured
Abasgia.” Now the lord of the Abasgians sent this message to the
Alans: 'As I found out, Justinian did not have a bigger liar than this
man whom he might have sent to rouse you up against us, your
neighbours. He lied to you even about the promise of money,- for
Justinian has given instructions for its removal. Surrender this man
to us and we shall pay you 3,000 gold pieces lest our ancient friend-
ship be broken.’ The Alans replied: "We have obeyed this man not on
account of money, but because of our friendship with the emperor.’
Once again the Abasgians sent emissaries to them, saying: 'Give us
this man, and we shall pay you 6,000 gold pieces.’ Now the Alans,
wishing to reconnoitre the land of the Abasgians, agreed to receive
the 6,000 gold pieces and to surrender the spatharios. They confided
everything to the spatharios and said to him: 'As you can see, the
road leading to the Roman country is closed, and you have no means
of going on your way. Let us rather deceive them by agreeing to sur-
render you, and we shall send some of our men to accompany them.
Thus we shall gain a knowledge of their mountain passes so as to
raid and destroy their country and perform what is pleasing to you.’
So the Alan emissaries went to Abasgia and, after agreeing to sur-
render the spatharios, they received many gifts. And once again [the

542

Chronographia AM 62,05

Abasgians] sent a great number of emissaries with the sum of gold so
as to take possession of the spathaiios. Now the Alans said to the
spathaiios’. 'These men, as we have said before, have come in order
to take you, and Abasgia awaits you. As we draw near to them, there
is a constant stream of merchants going to their country. So, lest our
purpose be divulged, we shall surrender you openly. And as you
move away, we shall secretly send men after you, and we shall kill
the Abasgians and hide you until our army is gathered and we are
able to invade their country by stealth.’ Which, indeed, came to pass.
For the Abasgian emissaries took possession of the spathaiios and
his companions and, after tying them up, they went off. Now the
Alans under their lord Itaxes,® overtook them from behind and killed
the Abasgians, while they concealed the spathaiios. And, raising an
army, [Itaxes] moved against Abasgia; entering unexpectedly
through the mountain passes, he made many captives and caused
much destruction among the Abasgians. When Justinian had heard
of these matters, namely that his instructions had been carried out
even without money, he sent the following letter to the Abasgians:
‘If you escort our spathaiios and let him pass through your country
without harm, we shall forgive you all your transgressions.’ They
gladly received this letter and, once again, sent emissaries to Alania
saying: 'We shall give you our children as hostages if you give us the
spathaiios that we may send him on his way to Justinian.’ But the
spathaiios would not agree to this, saying: 'God is able to open me a
door that I may go out: for I shall not leave by way of Abasgia.'
Some time later an army of Romans and Armenians entered
Lazica and were besieging Archaiopolis,? but on hearing that the
Saracens were coming, they departed. About 200 men split off [from
the main army] and went looting in the region of Apsilia and the
Caucasian mountains. When the Saracens reached Lazica, the army
of Romans and Armenians took to flight and returned to Phasis,
while the 200 who had been left behind gave up hope and remained
as robbers in the Caucasian mountains. The Alans, on being
informed of this, thought that a multitude of Romans was in the
Caucasian mountains, and they joyfully said to the spathaiios: 'The
Romans have drawn near. Go to them.' Taking fifty Alans along, the
spathaiios crossed in snow-shoes” the snowy mountains of
Caucasus in the month of May and found the men. Joyfully he asked
them: 'Where is the army?’ They replied: 'It returned to the Roman
country when the Saracens attacked. As for us, being unable to
depart to the Roman country, we were making our way to Alania.'
He said to them: 'What shall we do now?’ They replied: 'It is impos-
sible for us to traverse this country.’ But the spathaiios said: 'It is not

543

393

394

395

am 62,09 Chronographia

possible to make our way out by any other route.’ Now there was a
fort there called Sideron,” whose warden, a man named Pharas-
manios, was subject to the Saracens and at peace with the
Armenians. The spatharios sent word to him, saying: 'Since you are
at peace with the Armenians, make peace with me too, and become
subject to the emperor. Help us go down to the sea and cross over to
Trebizond.’ But since the warden chose not to do so, the spatharios
sent some of his men, including some Armenians, and instructed
them to set an ambush, [saying): "When they go out to work [in the
fields], capture as many of them as you can, and take hold of the
gates from the outside until we too get there.’ So they went off and
set the ambush; and when the people went out to work, they sud-
denly fell upon them, took many captives and seized the gates. Since
Pharasmanios had remained in the fort with a few men, the spathar-
ios, on reaching the spot, spoke to him that he might peacefully let
them in, but Pharasmanios was unwilling to do so and made war.
The fort, however, was strong and they could not take it. Now
Marinus, the chief of the Apsilians, was seized by fear when he had
been informed that the fort was under siege, thinking that the
spatharios had a big army with him. So, taking 300 men along, he
went to the spatharios and said: 'I will accompany you safely as far
as the coast.’ Pharasmanios, for his part, on seeing his difficult posi-
tion, said to the spatharios: "Take my son as hostage, and I undertake
to serve the Empire.’ The other took the boy and said: 'What kind of
emperor's servant do you call yourself when you speak to us while
remaining locked up? There is no question of our departing until we
take the fort.’ Then Pharasmanios says, 'Give me your word.’ The
spatharios swore not to harm him and to enter the fort with no more
than thirty men. But when the other had not observed the agree-
ment, he instructed the thirty men that were being let in along with
him, saying: 'As you go in, take hold of the gates and let everyone
enter.’ When this had taken place, he ordered that the fort should be
set on fire, and as a great conflagration flared up, the families [of the
inhabitants] went out seizing whatever possessions they could carry.
Remaining there another three days,” [the spatharios] demolished
the walls down to the ground, and then set out on his downward
journey to Apsilia together with Marinus, the local chief,and was

received with great honour by the Apsilians. From there he went
down to the coast and crossed over to [the emperor] Justinian. After
Justinian had been slain and Philippikos had been blinded, Artemios
became emperor and appointed him strategos of the Anatolics. And
when Artemios had been ousted and Theodosius was made emperor,
while the Roman state was in confusion because of barbarian inva-

544

Chronographia AM 62,05

sion, Justinian's murders, and the evil deeds of Philippikos, the
aforesaid Leo took the side of Artemios’ and opposed Theodosios.
He had the agreement and co-operation of Artabasdos, strategos of
the Armeniacs whom, after he had become emperor, he made his
son-in-law through marriage to his daughter Anna and also pro-
moted him to the rank of curopalates.*

uNow Masalmas, after he had wintered in Asia, was awaiting
Leo's promises. But when he had received nothing from Leo and real-
ized that he had been tricked, I \* he moved to Abydos, crossed over to
Thrace with a considerable army, and advanced towards the
Imperial City. n°” He also wrote to the Caliph Souleiman’ that the
latter should come with the fleet that had been fitted out in
advance. u After devastating the Thracian forts, Masalmas laid siege
to the City on 15 August.’° [The Arabs] fenced the land walls all
round by digging a wide trench and building above it a breast-high
parapet of dry stone. On 1 September of the ist indiction” Christ's
enemy Souleiman™ sailed up with his fleet and his emirs. He had
enormous ships, military transports, and dromones to the number of
1,800. He put in between the Magnaura”® and the Kyklobion. Two
days later a south wind blew, and they set out from there and sailed
past the City. Some of them crossed over to [the suburbs] of
Eutropios and Anthemios,”° while others put in on the Thracian
side, from the fort of Galata” all the way to the Kleidion.” Since the
big ships were heavily laden and moved slowly, some twenty trans-
ports protected the rear, each one of them guarded by a hundred men
clad in corselets. These found themselves becalmed in the midst of
the current and, when a slight breeze blew down the straits, they
were pushed back. Straight away, the pious emperor sent against
them the fire-bearing ships from the Acropolis and, with divine help,
set them on fire, so that some of them were cast up burning by the
sea walls, others sank to the bottom with their crews, and others
were swept down flaming” as far as the islands Oxeia and Plateia.
As a result, the inhabitants of the City took courage, whereas the
enemy cowered with fear after experiencing the efficacious action of
the liquid fire: for they had intended to beach their ships that
evening by the sea walls and set their steering paddles upon the bat-
tlements.** But God brought their counsel to nought through the
intercession of the all-pure Theotokos. That same night the pious
emperor stealthily drew up the chain” on the Galata side. The
enemy, however, thinking that the emperor had drawn it aside with
a view to entrapping them, did not dare move in and anchor on the
inside of Galata. Instead, they sailed up to the bay of Sosthenion and
made their fleet secure there.! I

545

396

397

398

AM620s Chronogra phia

HOn 8 October their leader Souleiman died and Oumar became
emir.|l¢

liThat winter proved very severe in Thrace, so much so that for a
hundred days the earth could not be seen beneath the congealed
snow. As a result, the enemy lost a multitude of horses, camels, and
other animals. In the spring Souphiam”® arrived with a fleet that had
been built in Egypt: he had 400 transports laden with corn as well as
dromones. Having been informed of the efficacy of the Roman fire,
he sailed past Bithynia and crossed to the harbour of Kalos Agros*”
on the other side, where he anchored. Shortly thereafter, Izid, too,
arrived with another fleet that had been built in Africa: he had 360
transports, a store of arms, and provisions. He had received the same
information about the liquid fire and so put in at Satyros and Bryas,
all the way to Kartalimen.”® Now the Egyptian [crews] of these two
fleets took counsel among themselves and, after seizing at night the
skiffs of the transports, sought refuge in the City and acclaimed the
emperor,- as they did so, the sea, all the way from Hiereia to the City,
appeared to be covered with timber. When the emperor had been
informed by them of the two fleets hidden in the bay,” he con-
structed fire-bearing siphons which he placed in dromones and
biremes and sent these against the fleets. With God's help, thanks to
the intercession of the all-pure Theotokos, the enemy were sunk on
the spot. Our men took the enemy's supplies as booty and returned
in joyous victory. If Furthermore, while Mardasan*” was raiding
with his Arab army from Pylai to Nicaea and Nicomedia, the impe-
rial officers who, like Mardaites, were concealed with their foot sol-
diers at Libos® and Sophon*, suddenly attacked them and broke
them in pieces and so forced them to withdraw from those parts. In
this way the seacoast on the other side gained a short respite, so that
ships could go out of the City and obtain plentiful provisions.
Likewise, fishing boats were not prevented from catching fish near
the islands and the city walls. The Arabs, on the other hand, suffered
from a severe famine, so that they ate all of their dead animals,
namely horses, asses, and camels. It is said that they even cooked in
ovens and ate dead men and their own dung which they leavened. A
pestilence fell upon them also and killed an infinite number of them.
Furthermore, the Bulgarian nation made war on them and, as well-
informed persons affirm, massacred 22,000 Arabs.*? Many other
calamities befell them at that time and made them learn by experi-
ence that God and the all-holy Virgin, the Mother of God, protect
this City and the Christian Empire, and that those who call upon
God in truth are not entirely forsaken, even if we are chastised for a
short time on account of our sins.

546

Chronographia AM 62,05

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 485; Chr. 1234, 237. 4-6 (Maslamah crosses to Europe in June).
> Cf. Nik. 54.1-2. © Cf. Nik. 54. 3-18. 4 Cf. Elias Nis. 77. 26-7 (AH 99),
"die octavo safar' ( = 20 Sept. 717). Chr. 819, 11 and Chi. 846, 177 record Sulaiman's
death in Sept. Mich. Syr. ii. 485 and Chr. 1234, 238. 21-5, give neither day nor month.
e Cf. Nik. 54. 18-39.

This is considered a later gloss seeing that Anast. has genere Syrus. Cf.
K. Schenk, BZ 5 (1896), 296 ff. The supposition that Leo III came to be called
an Isaurian by being confused with the Isaurian Leontios (695-8), as argued
by C. Head, Byz 41 (1971), 105 ff. and others, ignores the fact that he is
already so designated in Parast., 20, c. r, a text of the 8th cent.

* The date of his accession is given below, p. 572, as 25 Mar. 717, but he
may have entered Constantinople in the winter of 716/17.

3 The removal of Leo's family to Thrace is needlessly questioned by S.
Gero, Leo III, 30-r, cf. Hendy, Economy, 66; ff.

4 In 705. Strictly speaking, Justinian had not yet regained the Empire at
the time.

> Leo's mission to the Caucasus is recorded only by Theoph. See
M. Canard, REArm NS 8 (1971), 353-7. Theoph. appears to reproduce a con-
temporary source in which Leo was represented as an able commander.
Note that he is repeatedly referred to as 'the spatharios’. The Caucasian mis-
sion, which could hardly have been motivated by Justinian's desire to bring
about unobtrusively Leo's death, does not appear to have achieved any note-
worthy results. It is not clear how long Leo remained in Alania, but we see
no reason to question Theophanes' statement that he returned while
Justinian was still on the throne. Canard, following Kulakovskij, iii. 324,
suggests that he returned in c.7r3, that is in the reign of either Philippikos
or Anastasios II. According to another tradition, represented by the Epist. ad
Theophilum, PG 95: 357C and Geo. Mon. 737, Leo was made spatharios by
Theodosios in (certainly incorrect) and undertook in the same reign a suc-
cessful naval expedition to S. Italy, after which he was proclaimed emperor
by the army.

° Between Lazica and Abasgia according to Arrian, Peripl. r5. Cf. A.
Maricq, Res gestae divi Saporis (Brussels, 1953), 65 and n. 4. See also the
Hypomnesticon of Theodore Spoudaios, AnBoll 53 (1935), 69.

? This statement is contradicted by the sequel of the story, unless the
verb rfxt*'?47A¥#9" ©?" 5° taken to mean ‘set about taking prisoners’.

® Perhaps the Persian-Armenian title Vitaxa (viceroy), usually rendered
in Greek as “RA‘RIS, TIVILO.“rjs, vel sim. Cf. Toumanoff, Studies, 155 ff.

° Nokalakevi, north of Phasis. Its situation is described by Prok. BG iv.
14. 1-3. Frequently mentioned by Agathias. See RE iii (1895), 435-6
(Tomaschek). Site described by A. M. Schneider, Forschungen u.
Fortschritte, 7 (1931), 354L and Braund, Georgia, 302-4 (with a plan).

" Between Tsebelda and Sukhumi according to Artamonov, Istorija, 36r.
Its ancient name was Tzachar: Agath. 4. 16. 4.

* 'Thirty’ in Anast.

547

AM 620s Chronogra _ phia

3 Or 'pretended to take the side of Artemios’ if one follows Anast. (hie

Leo simulabatur et pro Artemio expugnabat). Anast. also adds: Theodosio
adversatus, quia, ut verum dicatur, adse ipsum imperium transferre decer-
tans. Anast.'s version appears to reflect an anti-Leo gloss.

‘4 Repeated with some amplification from p. 536.

*® Surely confused with the Sulayman who did arrive at the head of a fleet
(below, n. 18). Same confusion in DAI 21. 115 ff.

© So also Syn. CP 904. 18 (probably from Theophanes). If this indication
is correct, the siege lasted exactly one year to the day, which is not very
likely, especially in view of the consideration that 15 Aug. was already cel-
ebrated as the feast of the Koimesis. It would thus have been particularly
appropriate if the Arabs both arrived and left on the chief feast day of the
Virgin Mary, the saviour of Constantinople. Nik. 54. 5, however, gives the
siege a duration of 13 months, which may indicate that it started on 15 July.

‘7 AD 717.

‘8 Not the Caliph, as implied here, but presumably Sulaiman b. Mu'ad,
unless it was yet a third Sulaiman, as conjectured by Brooks, 'Campaign', 26
n. 1.

? In the suburb of Hebdomon. Cf. above, p. 493 n. 1.

*° The harbour of Eutropios (see above, pp. 414, 423) was outside
Chalcedon; the suburb of Anthemios on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus. For
the latter see Janin, CP, 483.

*" Mentioned here for the first time (the attribution to Tiberius II in
Patria, 265, c. 157, is fanciful). Remains marked by Yeralti Camii: see A. M.
Schneider and M. I. Nomidis, Galata (Istanbul, 1944), 6.

* Traditionally placed at modern Defterdarburnu: Janin, CP, 472.

% Xavpl*ovaai, paraphrased as KaTa<f>Xeyop,evai in Cramer, Eccl. Hist. ii.
355. Anast. (dB 255. 34) renders it, not quite correctly, by consumptae.
Presumably from Xafipos: cf. Kap.ivoi Xavpordrrj in Acta S. Adriani et soc.,
AASS, Sept. Ill (1750), 228D: v7ro Xavporcitov irvpos ii«t>votoiJ.evov in
Miracula S. Georgii, ed. J. B. Aufhauser (Leipzig 1913), 37.

Tovs avxevas ely ras endX*eis eTridetvat, rendered by Anast. (dB 256. 3)
as temones supra pugnacula imponere.

*S This is the earliest mention of the chain guarding the Golden Horn, on
which see R. Guilland, Etudes byzantines (Paris, 1959), 263-97.

*7 Near the mouth of the gulf of Nicomedia. Cf. Syn. CP 777. 10 and
Janin, Grands centres, 94 n. i; more specifically, near modern Tuzla, as
shown by an inscription copied in the 17th cent, by John Covel: D. Feissel,
TM 10 (1987), 429-30.

*8 Corresponding to modern Kiifiikyali (near Bostanci), Maltepe, and
Kartal respectively. See Janin, CP, 239-40; Grands centres, 42-3, 51-2. On
Bryas cf. our remarks in TM 12 (1994), 347 ff.

*2 Of Nicomedia.

3° He does not appear to be recorded elsewhere.

On the road from Nicomedia to Nicaea, corresponding to Libo or

548

Chronographia AM62,05

Mansio Libum of the Itineraries: O. Cuntz, Itinezazia zomana, i (Leipzig,
1929), 20, 92. Approximate site marked in D. French, Roman Roads and
Milestones of Asia Minoz, i (1981), map 3. See also C. Foss, AnatSt 40 (1990),
168 ff.

> Mountain and lake of the same name corresponding to modern
Sapanca. See Ramsay, Geogz. 188.

3 The crucial role played by the Bulgarians is apparent from the related
narratives of Mich. Syr. and Chz. 1234. Cf. V. Gjuzelev, 'La Participation des
Bulgares a l'echec du siege arabe de Constantinople en 717-718', in
Medieval Bulgazia, Byzantine Empize, Black Sea, Venice, Genoa (Villach,
1988), 91-113-

AM 62i0 [AD 717/18]

Year of the divine Incarnation 710

Leo, 2nd year

Oumaros, leader of the Arabs (2 years), 1st year
Germanus, 4th year

John, 13thyear

Illn this year Sergius, who was piotospatharios and strategos of
Sicily, on learning that the Saracens were besieging the Imperial
City, crowned in those parts his own emperor—one of his men,
called Basil, a native of Constantinople, son of Gregory
Onomagoulos, whom he renamed Tiberius. The latter appointed his
own dignitaries with the consent of the aforementioned Sergius.
When the emperor had heard of this, he dispatched Paul,’ chartulary
of his own household, whom he promoted patrician and strategos of
Sicily, and gave him as helpers (two spatharii and a few men to serve
him) as well as orders addressed to the western commanders and a
sacra’ to the people. These men embarked at night on an expedi-
tionary dromon? and sailed off to the region of Kyzikos. Having
made their journey from place to place, by both land and sea, they
suddenly arrived in Sicily. When they had entered Syracuse, Sergius
was amazed to hear of it; recognizing his own guilt, he sought refuge
with the Lombards who dwell adjacent to Calabria. When the people
had assembled and been assured by the reading aloud of the sacra
that the Empire stood firm and that the City was confident as
regards the enemy,- when, furthermore, they had been told about the
two fleets, they immediately acclaimed Leo as emperor and surren-
dered to the strategos as captives both Basil Onamagoulos and the
dignitaries who had been appointed by him. He caused Basil and the
latter's commander-in-chief* to be beheaded and sent to the emperor
their heads preserved in vinegar? by care of the spatharii. The others

549

399

am6208 Chronogra phia

he exiled, after having them scourged and tonsured and, in some
cases, cutting off their noses. As a result, great order prevailed in the
western parts. As for the aforementioned Sergius, he sought and
obtained from the strategos a promise of immunity and so joined
him; and all the western parts were pacified. I’

HWhen Oumaros had become master of the Arabs,® he ordered
Masalmas to turn back,ll”and, on 15 August, theHagarenes moved off
in great shame. As their fleet sailed away,’ a God-sent storm fell
upon them and scattered them through the intercession of the
Mother of God. Some sank by Prokonesos and the other islands, oth-
ers by Apostropha® and the adjoining shores. The remainder were
going through the Aegean Sea when a terrible calamity came over
them; for a fiery hail fell upon them and brought the sea-water to a
boil, and as the pitch of their keels dissolved, their ships sank in the
deep, crews and all.° Only ten of them escaped, and this by God's
providence, so as to proclaim both to us and to the Arabs the divine
prodigies they had experienced. Some of our men chanced upon
them and were able to seize five of them, while the other five
escaped to Syria to announce God's mighty deeds.II°

Il In the same year, after a violent earthquake had occurred in Syria, |lI¢
Oumar banned the use of wine in cities and set about forcing the
Christians to become converted: those that converted he exempted
from tax, while those that refused to do so he killed and so produced
many martyrs. He also decreed that a Christian's testimony against a
Saracen should not be accepted.Ile He composed a letter concerning
religion addressed to the emperor Leo’® in the belief that he would
persuade him to convert.IK

"Cf Nik. 55. > Cf. Ps.-Dion. Chron. 13; Mich. Syr. ii. 486; Chr. 1234, 239.
1-3. “ Cf. Nik. 56. 2-8. “ Cf. Chr. 846, 177, 24 Dec. AG 1029; Mich. Syr.
ii. 490; Elias Nis. 77, Agapios, 242. ° Cf. Mich. Syr. II, 489; Agapios, 242.

* Cf. Agapios, 242-3.

It has been conjectured that he was the same as Paul, later exarch of
Ravenna (723-6): T. S. Brown, Gentlemen and Officers (Rome, 1984), 65.

* ie. a decree or imperial letter. On the term see F. Dolger and J.
Karayannopulos, Byz. Urkundenlehre (Munich, 1968), 24, 89.

3 els et;e\aoTi. Kdv Spoficuva. For the term cf. Actes de Lavra, I (1970), 10.
15 (a. 993)-

* TO) /jtovooTparriyaj avrov. This term, something like generalissimo, is
repeatedly used by Theoph. to denote a combined command of two or more
armies, but its precise meaning in this context is not clear. See
Winkelmann, Quellenstudien, 40. The person in question was probably
George, named by Nik. 55. 16. It is surprising that Sergius should not have
been given a leading post in the command structure of his protege.

550

Chronographia AM 62,05

ray KE<f>a\as avrojv ifiovaKidaas from <f>ovoxa (Lat. posca, pusca). Cf E.
Kislinger, JOB 24 (1984), 49 ff., I. Rochow, BS1 47 (1986), 25 ff.

° Actually, Sulayman died at Dabiq in Sept.-Oct. 71j, when the siege of
Constantinople had barely begun, and was succeeded by 'Umar b. Abd al-
‘Aziz. In MSS e, m the paragraph begins as follows: ‘Departing from
Byzantium in disgrace, Meselmes [sic] proceeded to Damascus. He found
that Maroen [Marwan], his lord and Caliph, had died. In his stead Oumaris
took power and sent Meselmes back to besiege Byzantium by land and sea.
This Oumaris was the youngest son of Aptelazez.'

7 iv yap to) zKTropLI*iv. On the verb eKTroplt,w (to sail away from
Constantinople through the straits) see comment on Life of Porphyry of
Gaza, ed. H. Gregoire and M.-A. Kugener (Paris, 1930), c. 27, p. 107.

8 Situation unknown to us. Note that the Life of Porphyry, c. 34, p. 29,
speaks of ret. a-rroarpocfia of Rhodes, which the editors translate as ‘les regions
ecartees de l'ile’.

° The miraculous destruction of the Arab fleet is mentioned in a con-
temporary homily by the Patriarch Germanus, ed. V. Grumel, REB 16
(1958), 197. Though doubtless embellished, the report of boiling waters in
the Aegean may well be connected with unusual volcanic activity, which
culminated in the eruption of Thera (M 6218).

* The text of 'Umar's alleged letter has been reconstructed by J. M.
Gaudeul, Islamochristiana, ro (1984), 109-57, on the basis of a truncated
Arabic tract no later than the goth cent., ed. D. Sourdel, Rev. des etudes
islamiques, 34 (1966), 1-33, and a fuller version in a Romance dialect pre-
served in a Madrid MS. Cf. S. H. Griffith in Syrie colloque, 133 n. 51. Leo's
alleged reply survives in an Armenian version, on whichsee A. Jeffery, HTR
37 (1944), 269-332. The Latin version in PG 107: 3-24 appears to be a fab-
rication.

[am 6211, ad 718/19]

Leo, 3rd year
Oumaros, 2nd year
Germanus, 5th year
John, 14th year

IIIn this year a son was born to the impious emperor Leo,’ namely
the yet more impious Constantine,I\* the precursor of the
Antichrist. On the 25th of the month of December’ Leo's wife Maria
was crowned in the Augusteus hall? and solemnly processed alone‘
to the Great Church, without her husband. After praying in front of
the sanctuary doors, she went over to the Great Baptistery,> which
her husband had entered earlier along with a few members of his
household. While the archbishop Germanus was baptizing there the
successor to their wicked empire, namely Constantine, a terrible

Bon!

400

401

am6208 Chronogra phia

and evil-smelling sign was manifested in his very infancy, for he
defecated in the holy font, as affirmed by actual eyewitnesses.°
Whereupon the most holy patriarch Germanus declared propheti-
cally that that sign denoted the great evil that would befall the
Christians and the Church on account of Constantine. When he had
been baptized, the chief men of the themata and of the Senate
received him as sponsors. After the holy liturgy, the Augusta Maria
returned in procession with her baptized son and distributed largess
on her way from the church to the Bronze Gate of the palace.

IlIn the same year Niketas Xylinites’ wrote to Artemios at
Thessalonica, urging him to go over to Terbelis with a view to
attacking Leo with Bulgarian support.® Consenting to do s0,
Artemios went off and obtained an army as well as 50 centenaria of
gold. Thus equipped, he marched on Constantinople. Since, how-
ever, the City did not accept him, the Bulgarians surrendered him to
Leo and returned home, duly rewarded by the latter. The emperor
put him to death along with Xylinites, whose fortune he confiscated:
the man was his? magistros and very rich. The Bulgarians also
beheaded the patrician Sisinnios surnamed Rendakis’® who was a
companion of Artemios, and they betrayed to the emperor the arch-
bishop of Thessalonica, who was beheaded along with Artemios.
Likewise Leo put to death the patrician Isoes, who was comes of
Opsikion,” Theoktistos the protoasekretis, and Niketas Anthrax,
Commander of the Wall,” for being friends and supporters of
Artemios. Others he banished, after cutting off their noses and con-
fiscating their property. I\”

a Cf. Nik. 56. 1-2. > Cf. Nik. 57. There is also an account of this incident in

Agapios, 243, where the Bulgars are transformed into Nubians.

* Contrast with the ‘pious emperor’, above, p. 545. Constantine's birth is
recorded by Nik. before the departure of the Arabs on 15 Aug. 718.

? 'December' is dB's emendation based on Anast.; the Greek MSS have
‘October’.

3 The normal venue for the coronation of an Augusta, as described in Cer.
i. 40.

* irpo-qMev e‘TrpaKTos. The term e)xilpa(«:)Toj, usually means 'in office’ or
‘exercising a function’ fin actu) as opposed to vacans. Cf. Oikonomides,
Listes, 290.

> The order for the baptism of an imperial prince is described in Cer. ii.
22, pp. 619-20. The Great Baptistery, also mentioned in the office of Holy
Saturday (Mateos, Typicon ii. 84), was situated north of St Sophia, as appears
from Goar, Euchologion, 387-9 and the Typikon in cod. Dresden A104,
analysed by A. A. Dmitrievskij, Drevnejsie patriarsie tipikony (Kiev, 1907),
161-2. Correctly placed by Ebersolt, Ste-Sophie, 33-5.

552

Chronographia AM 62,05

° So also Adv. Const. Caballinum, PG 95: 337A-B; V. Nicetae Medic.,
XXVIliE.

7 His seal in Zacos-Veglery, No. 437, unless it is that of an earlier (?)
Niketas, magistros in 680: Mansi, xi. 209, 217 =ACO and ser. ii/i (1990),
14, 16. Xylinites is recorded in Patria, p. 276, as the founder of a monastery.

* Exceptionally, the story of the plot of Artemios is told more fully and
with somewhat different particulars by Nik., who represents the Bulgarians
as acting in a friendly manner towards the Empire. It is unlikely that in this
one case Nik. should have followed a source different from that of Theoph.
We consider it more probable that Theoph., who repeatedly shows an anti-
Bulgarian bias, has deliberately condensed and altered the narrative. The
events are discussed by G. Cankova-Petkova, BSI 24 (1963), 41-53; Kaegi,
Unrest, 211-12; Besevliev, Protobulg. Periode, 201-2.

° Presumably the magistros of Artemios, that is appointed by the latter.
So Bury, Adm. System, 29, who discusses the history of the office.

*° For his seals see Seibt, Bleisiegel, nos. 78, 136; for the surname,
Winkelmann, Quellenstudien, 148, 181. On the Rendakis or Rentakios
family, which was based in Greece and achieved prominence in the
gth/ioth cent., see N. Svoronos, BCH 83 (1959), 74 f; Seibt, op. cit., no. 192.
According to Nik., Sisinnios had been dwelling m Bulgaria, whither he had
been sent by Leo to obtain help against the Arabs, and it was he who acted
as Artemios’ intermediary in obtaining Bulgar support for the coup. His dis-
patch to Bulgaria could hardly have been later than the spring of 717, since
the Arabs were harassed by the Bulgarians on their march through Thrace
(June/July). He must have been prevented from returning to Constantinople
by the siege. The attempt by Ahrweiler, Mer, 28 ff., to identify our Sisinnios
with his namesake, strategos of the fleet in Mir. Dem., ii. 5, has been
rejected by P. Lemerle, Recueils, ii. 155. P. A. Giannopoulos, EEBS 39-40
(1972-3), 579-93, argues that Sisinnios Rendakis was the same as Sisinnios
strategos of the Anatolics, mentioned in a somewhat legendary account of
the early career of Leo III: Geo. Mon. 737,- Epist. ad Theophilum, PG 95:357,-
Leo Gramm. 175,- Kedr. i. 789.

“On whom see Winkelmann, Rangstruktur, 72f. For his seals,
Likhacev, Molivdovuly, 206 f.

” This is the earliest mention of the office, called KO*TJS' or SOUCCTLKOS
Twv Trxiwv (or Tov Toxovs) or, for short, o reix""\?- See Bury, Adm.
System, 67-8, whose suggestion that he had charge of the Anastasian wall
in Thrace is rightly contested by B. Croke, GRBS 23 (1982), 76 ff.
Oikonomides, Listes, 336-7, andHaldon, Praetorians, 265 f., believe he had
charge of the walls of the Imperial Palace.

am 6212 [ad 719/20]

Year of the divine Incarnation 712
Leo, emperor of the Romans (24 years), 4th year
Izid, leader of the Arabs (4 years), 1st year

553

am6208 Chronogra phia

Germanus, bishop of Constantinople (15 years), 6th year
John, bishop of Jerusalem (30 years), 15th year

Illn this year, the 3rd indiction, on Easter day’ Constantine was
crowned by his father Leo in the Tribunal of the Nineteen Couches.
The customary prayers were recited by the blessed patriarch
Germanus. I \*

Il In the same year Oumaros, who had been emir of the Arabs 2 years
and 4 months, died and Izid became emir.2 There rose up against him
a usurper in Persia, called like him Izid Moualabi,? and many Persians
joined his cause. Izid sent Masalmas, who killed him and subjugated
Persia. Ilfa

" Cf. Nik. 58. > Cf. Chr. 1234, 240. 3-13; Mich. Syr. ii. 489 (less close); Elias
Nis. 77-8 (AH IOI, 102).

* 31 Mar. 720. Nik. gives the date incorrectly as 25 Mar.
* Yazid II (720-4). 3 Yazid b. al-Muhallab.

[am 6213, ad 720/1]

Leo, 5thyear

Izid, 2nd year
Germanus, 7thyear
John, 16thyear

Il In this year there appeared a certain Syrian,’ who was a false messiah
and deceived the Jews by calling himself Christ, the son of God.II$

a Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 490,° Chr. 1234, 240. 18-25 with further details; Agapios, 244;
long account in Ps.-Dion. Chron. 25-7 (under Hisham).

* Called Severus, a Christian dwelling in the district of Marde.

[am 6214 ,ad 721/2]

Leo, 6th year

Izid, 3rd year
Germanus, 8th year
John, 17thyear

In this year the emperor forced the Jews and the Montanists to
accept baptism. The Jews, for their part, were baptized against their
will and then washed off their baptism; and they partook of holy
communion on a full stomach and so defiled the faith.’ As for the

554

Chionogzaphia AM 6121

Montanists, they made divination among themselves and, after
determining a certain day, entered the houses appointed for their
false worship and burnt themselves. *

* The measure against the Jews is briefly mentioned in Chi. 1234, 24.0.
26-7; Elias Nis. 78 (@H 101); more fully by Mich. Syr. ii. 489-90, who adds
that those who accepted baptism were called ‘new citizens’. So also Agapios,
244. Theophanes' account does not appear to be based on an oriental source.

* For similar action taken by the Phrygian Montanists in the reign of
Justinian I see Prok. Anecd. 11. 23. Their forced baptism by Leo III is not
mentioned in any other source and has been doubted by some scholars: ref-
erences in Rochow, Byzanz, 104.

[am 62,15, ad 722/3]

Leo, 7th year

Izid, 4th year
Germanus, 9thyear
John, 18th year

I In this year a Jewish magician, who was a native of Laodikeia in
Maritime Phoenicia, came to Izid and promised him that he would
reign forty years over the Arabs if he destroyed the holy icons that
were venerated in Christian churches throughout his dominions.
The senseless Izid was persuaded by him and decreed a general con-
stitution against the holy images.’ But by the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ and by the intercessions of His chaste Mother and of all the
saints, Izid died that same year before his satanic constitution had
come to the notice of most people. The emperor Leo partook of the
same error, a grievous and illicit one, and so became responsible for
inflicting many evils upon us.I\* He found a partner in this boorish-
ness—a man called Beser,’ a former Christian who had been taken
captive in Syria, who had abjured the Christian faith and become
imbued with Arab doctrines and who, not long before, had been freed
from their servitude and returned to the Roman state. Because of his
physical strength and like-mindedness in error, he was honoured by
the same Leo. This man, then, became the emperor's ally with
regard to this great evil. Another of his wicked coadjutors was the
bishop of Nakoleia? who was filled with every kind of impurity and
lived in similar boorishness.

"Cf. the report of John, vicar of the Oriental patriarchs, presented to the Council
of 787, Mansi xiii. 197B ff.; Nikephoros, Antirrheticus III, PG 100: 528 ff. (both with
different details: the Jewish magician, called Tessarakontapechys (Forty Cubits high),

555

402

403

AM 620s Chronogra phia

hails from Tiberias,- he promises to Yazid a reign of 30 years; Yazid dies 2 years later;
bishop of Nakoleia mentioned, but not Beser). Cf. also Nikephoros, Contra
Eusebium, in Pitra, Spicilegium Solesmense, i (Paris, 1852), 375-6, with one further
feature (Yazid is seriously ill when he is approached by the Jew). Theophanes' version

is distinctive and cannot have been derived from the Acts of 787.

" The measure is mentioned by Ps.-Dion. Chron. 17, AG 1035,- Chr. 819,
uand Chr. 846, 178, both AG 1031,- Mich. Syr. ii. 489; Chr. 1234,178, AH 102
(carried out by Maslamah on Yazid's instruction). See further A. A. Vasiliev,
DOP 9-10 (1956), 25-47.

* On whom see L. Brehier, DHGE viii (1935), 1171-2; Alexander,
Nicephorus, 235; Gero, Leo III, 189 ff. The original form of the name must
have been Bisr. Seal: Zacos-Veglery, 2835; cf. W. Seibt, BS: 36 (1975), 212.

> Constantine of Nakoleia, addressee of a letter of reproof from the patri-
arch Germanus, PG 98: 161 ff., and widely regarded as the main instigator of
Byzantine iconoclasm. See G. Ostrogorsky in Melanges Ch. Diehl, i (Paris,

1930), 236-7.

[am 6216, ad 723/4]

Leo, 8thyear

Isam, leader of the Arabs (19 years), 1st year,
Germanus, 1oth year

John, 19thyear

I am now going to tell the story of the blessed Stephen, Pope of
Rome,’ how he fled to the land of the Franks and was saved.”

This celebrated man Stephen suffered many ills at the hands of
Astulphos, king of the Lombards.? He sought refuge among the
Franks at the time of Pipin, who was majordomo‘ and chief of the
administration of all the affairs of the Frankish nation: for it was
their custom that their lord, that is their king, would reign by virtue
of heredity, but take no part in the administration and do nothing
except eat and drink inordinately. He would live at home and on 1
May” would preside over the whole nation to greet them and to
receive their greetings and customary gifts and to give them gifts in
return, and then would live by himself until the following May. He
has a majordomo, as the man is called, who administers all the
affairs according to the king's and the nation’s wishes. The descen-
dants of that line were called Kristatai, which means ‘hairy backs’:
for, like pigs, they had bristles sprouting from their back.°

Now, the aforementioned Stephen, compelled by the cruelty and
senselessness of Astulphos, obtained the latter's permission to pro-
ceed to the Frankish country to do whatever he was able. When he
arrived, he performed the investiture of Pipin,’ a man who was then

556

Chronographia AM 62,05

greatly esteemed and was also administrator of public affairs on the
king's behalf; who, furthermore, had fought the Arabs who had
crossed from Africa to Spain,® the same who have held Spain until
now, and attempted to make war even against the Franks. The said
Pipin opposed them with his host; he killed the commander of the
enemy, Abderachman,” as well as a countless multitude of them by
the river Eridanos,”° and drew his nation's admiration and love, not
only for this deed, but also on account of his other qualities. He was
the first to rule his nation not by virtue of heredity, the said Stephen
having absolved him of his oath to the king, tonsured his predeces-
sor and confined him honourably in a comfortable monastery.
This Pipin had two sons, the brothers Karoulos and Karoulo-
magnos.”

Il In the same year Izid, who had been Caliph of the Arabs for four
years, died.’ His brother Ilsam became Caliph and started to build
palaces in the country and in towns, to lay out plantations and gardens
and to channel water.II3 He campaigned against the Roman country
and, after losing many of his men, returned home.|l>

Stephen, the Pope of Rome, sought refuge with the Franks.

"Cf. Chr. 819, 11, AG 1035; Chr. 846, 178; Chr. 1234, 241. 5-15 with further details;
Mich. Syr. ii. 490, AG 1037; Agapios, 245; Ps.-Dion. Chron. 23-4. > Cf. Agapios,
245 (raid led by Kathir b. Rabrah). Tabari records under AH 105 (723/4) an unsuccess-
ful raid by Sa'Id b. 'Abdal-Malik: Brooks, 'Arabs', 198.

" Stephen III (752-7).

* The story that follows appears to have been a scholion to the last entry
for this year, based on a western source, perhaps originating in the Greek
colony of Rome. For a similar assessment of the Merovingian kings see e.g.
Einhard, Vita Kaioli, i, Annales Fuldenses, a.751: ‘qui reges quidem dice-
bantur, sed potestas regni tota apud maiorem domus habebatur, excepto
quod chartae et privilegia regis nomine scribebantur,- et ad Martis campum,
qui rex dicebatur, plaustro . . . vectus . . . semel in anno a populis visus pub-
lica dona solemniter sibi oblata accipiebat . . . sicque rege domum redeunte
cetera regni negotia maior domus administrabat'. Pope Stephen's journey is
here badly misplaced, seeing that it occurred in 753. Anastasius (dB 272-3)
inserts it under AM 6234 either because he found it there or because he
moved it himself.

3 Aistulf (749-56).

4 Rendered as npooiKos, a term that occurs in Const. Porph. De Them. xii.
28, 33 and in a number of early Byzantine inscriptions, mostly from Asia
Minor. See note by J. G. C. Anderson, JHS 19 (1899), 298. Pipin the Short was
maior palatii after his father's death in 741.

> The Frankish assembly, previously held in Mar., was moved to May by
Pipin: Annales Petaviani, MGH SS i (1826), a.755, p. 11.

° In spite of much discussion, this passage remains obscure. Cristati

557

404

>a eT:

am 6208 Chronogra_phia

means ‘tufted’ or 'crested' (usually applied to animals). A. Cameron, Rev.
beige dephilol. et d'hist. 43 (1965), 1203 ff., has shown that the Merovingian
kings were distinguished by the inordinate length of their hair. Long hair
falling over the back does not, however, suggest a hog's bristles. Whatever

. exactly it may mean, this passage is derogatory as noted by L. Halphen in his

edn. of Einhard, Vie de Charlemagne’ (Paris, 1938), 10 n. 1.

7 On 28 July 754 at Saint-Denis. He was given by the pope the title of
‘patrician of the Romans’.

e Pipin is here confused with his father Charles Martel, who defeated the
Arabs at Poitiers then pushed into the Rhone valley.

° Abderahman films Mahuhi in Anast. The Arab commander at the
battle of Poitiers was 'Abd al-Rahman b. Ahdallah.

* Charles (Charlemagne) and Carloman. 3 927 Jan. 724.

[am 6217, ad 724/5]

Leo, gthyear

Isam, 2nd year

Gregory, bishop of Rome (9 years), 1st year
Germanus, 11th year

John, 20th year

This year the impious emperor Leo started making pronounce-
ments about the removal of the holy and venerable icons. When
Gregory, the Pope of Rome,’ had been informed of this, he withheld
the taxes of Italy and of Rome" and wrote to Leo a doctrinal letter?
to the effect that an emperor ought not to make pronouncements
concerning the faith nor to alter the ancient doctrines of the Church
which had been defined by the holy Fathers.

lIThe same year a swollen stream flooded the city of Edessa and
killed many people. I]

" Cf. Agapios, 246. > This entry seems to have strayed from the next indic-
tional cycle. See below, AM 6232.

* There has been much discussion whether Aoyov -rroieLadai in this pas-
sage means 'to make public declarations of policy’ or simply 'to speak’. For
a survey of scholarly opinion see M. V. Anastos in ByzF 3 (1968), 8-10, who
favours the former interpretation. Nik. 60. 6-7 represents Leo as trying 'to
expound his own doctrine to the people’ after the eruption of Thera, hence
not before the summer of 726. After the 10th year of his reign in Vita
Stephani iun., PG 100: 1084C.

* Theoph. has conflated Gregory II (715-31) and Gregory III (731-41) into
a single pope, whom he represents as ruling from 725 to 734. According to

558

Chionogiaphia AM 6218

Lib. Pont. i. 403. 20 ff., Gregory II withheld the taxes before the arrival of the
imperial decree against images. Cf. Anastos, op. cit. 24.

3 The reference appears to be to the two letters preserved in Greek, which
are probably a fabrication of the late 8th/early 9th cent. So J. Gouillard, TM
3 (1968), 260. Even if they are substantially or partly genuine, as many schol-
ars have argued, they cannot on internal evidence be earlier than 732,
because of the allusion to the capture of Ravenna by the Lombards, so that
the mention of them at this point is misplaced.

[am 6218, ad 725/6]

Leo, 10th year

Isam, 3rd year
Gregory, 2nd year
Germanus, 12th year
John 21st year

|IThis year Masalmas made a campaign against Caesarea in
Cappadocia and captured it.lls There was a plague in Syria II The
Caliph's camels were burnt at St Elijah's.Ile Mauias, Isam's son,’ made
a campaign against the Roman country and returned home after
marching up and down.11¢

IlIn the summer season of the same year, indiction 9,” a vapour as
from a fiery furnace boiled up for a few days from the depth of the
sea between the islands of Thera and Therasia. As it gradually
became thicker and filled with stones because of the heat of the
burning fire, all the smoke took on a fiery appearance. Then, on
account of the density of the earthy substance, pumice stones as big
as hills were thrown up against all of Asia Minor, Lesbos, Abydos,
and coastal Macedonia, so that the entire surface of that sea was
filled with floating pumice. In the midst of so great a fire an island
that had not previously existed was formed and joined to the Sacred
Island, as it is called,-? for, just as the aforementioned islands Thera
and Therasia had once been thrown up, so was this one, too, in the
present days of God's enemy Leo. Thinking that God's wrath was in
his favour instead of being directed against him, he stirred up a more
ruthless war on the holy and venerable icons, n® having as his ally the
renegade Beser who rivalled his own senselessness,- for both of them
were filled with boorishness and complete ignorance, the cause of
most evils. The populace of the Imperial City were much distressed
by the new-fangled doctrines and meditated an assault upon him.
They also killed a few of the emperor's men who had taken down the
Lord's image that was above the great Bronze Gate,* with the result
that many of them were punished in the cause of the true faith by

559

406

am 6208 Chronogra phia

mutilation, lashes, banishment, and fines, especially those who
were prominent by birth and culture. This led to the extinction of
schools and of the pious education that had lasted from St
Constantine the Great until our days, but was destroyed, along with
many other good things, by this Saracen-minded Leo.’

uAt this juncture the inhabitants of Hellas and the Cyclades,
moved by divine zeal, came to an accord and revolted against him
with a great fleet, bringing in their train a certain Kosmas who was
to be crowned emperor. The expedition was commanded by
Agallianos, turmarch of the Helladics,° and Stephen. They
approached the Imperial City on 18 April of the 10th indication’ and,
after joining battle with the people of Byzantium, had their ships
burnt with artificial fire and were defeated. Some of them were
drowned by the Hollow,* among them Agallianos, who threw him-
self in the sea armed as he was, while the survivors deserted to the
emperor. Kosmas and Stephen were beheaded. r As for the impious
Leo and his supporters, they grew in wickedness as they intensified
the persecution of the true faith.

uAt the summer solstice of the same ioth indiction, after the
unhappy defeat of our fellow-countrymen, a multitude of Saracens
led by two emirs was drawn up against Nicaea in Bithynia: Amer?
with 15,000 scouts led the van and surrounded the town which he
found unprepared, while Mauias followed with another 85,000
men.’ After a long siege and a partial destruction of the walls, they
did not overpower the townII* thanks to the acceptable prayers
addressed to God by the holy Fathers who are honoured there in a
church” (wherein their venerable images are set up to this very day
and are honoured by those who believe as they did). A certain
Constantine, however, who was the strator of Artabasdos, on seeing
an image of the Theotokos that had been set up, picked up a stone
and threw it at her. He broke the image and trampled upon it when
it had fallen down. He then saw in a vision the Lady standing beside
him and saying to him: 'See, what a brave thing you have done to
me! Verily, upon your head have you done it.' The next day, when
the Saracens attacked the walls and battle was joined, that wretched
man rushed to the wall like the brave soldier he was’* and was
struck by a stone discharged from a siege engine, and it broke his
head and face, a just reward for his impiety. After collecting many
captives and much booty, the Arabs withdrew.” In this manner God
showed to the impious one” that he had overcome his fellow-coun-
trymen” not on account of his piety, as he himself boasted, but for
some divine cause and inscrutable judgement, whereby so great an
Arab force was driven away from the city of the holy Fathers thanks

560

Chronographia AM62,05

to their intercession—on account of their most exact likenesses that
are honoured therein—and this, too, in reproof and unanswerable
condemnation of the tyrant and in vindication of the true believers.
Not only was the impious man in error concerning the relative wor-
ship’® of the holy icons, but also concerning the intercession of the
all-pure Theotokos and all the saints, and he abominated their relics
like his mentors, the Arabs. From this time on he impudently
harassed the blessed Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople, blam-
ing all the emperors, bishops, and Christian people who had lived
before him for having committed idolatry in worshipping the holy
and venerable icons, unable as he was to grasp the argument con-
cerning relative veneration because of his lack of faith and crass
ignorance.

@ Cf. Chr. 819, 12, AG 1037; Chr. 846, 178; Mich. Syr. ii. 490; Chr. 1234, 241. 18-21;
Agapios, 246 (3rd year of Hisham); Ps.-Dion. Chron. 24, AG 1040. All name
Neocaesarea in Pontos. Caesarea in Elias Nis. 78 (AH 107). Cf. Tabari, xxv. 29 and
Brooks, 'Arabs', 198-9, AH 107, 108. > Cf. Chr. 819, 11, AG 1036; Mich. Syr. ii.
491; Agapios, 246; Elias Nis. 78 (AH 107]. © No identifiable parallel. Perhaps
with reference to the monastery of the patriarch Elias at Jericho: Vailhe, 'Monasteres',
i. 529-30. 4 Cf. Chr. 1234, 241. 22-4, AG 1038; Agapios, 246, unless these refer
to the raid mentioned under AM 6219. © Cf. Nik. 59. 1-60. 6. f Cf. Nik.
60. 8-18. ’ Cf. Nik. 61. The siege of Nicaea is also mentioned in Chr. 1234,
241. 37-242. 3, AG 1040. Mich. Syr. ii. 501 mistakenly states that Nicaea was captured
by the Arabs.

* Mu'awiya b. Hisham.

* AD 726. It should be noted that this AM covers two indictional years, the
gth and the 10th, as already pointed out by G. Ostrogorsky, BN/ 7(19301,50.

3 On which see Strabo, i. 3. 16; Pliny, HN ii. 202.

* According to the Vita Stephani iun., PG 100: 1085C, this famous inci-
dent took place in 730. Discussion in Mango, Brazen House, 170-4. M.-F.
Auzepy, Byz 60 (1990), 445-92, has put forward the intriguing idea that
there was no destruction of the Chalke image by Leo III for the reason that
no such image existed at the time.

> The decline of education is more plausibly attributed by Nik. 52. 1-4 to
the anarchy that prevailed after the downfall of Justinian II.

° It is not known whether at this date the thema of Hellas was headed by
a strategos or merely by a turmarch. Cf. Winkelmann, Rangstruktur, 94.
Agallianos passed into Constantinopolitan folklore: Patria, p. 257, c. 133.

7 AD 727.

8 The indication rrep! tov \6.kkov may refer to the Golden Horn. Cf.
Mateos, Typicon, i. 362, appar. (reading of Patm. 266), ifivdlod-qoav iv tur
XaKKai with reference to the barbarians (Slavs) drowned in the course of the
siege of 626.

° Possibly the same as the Gamer under AM 6231 (Ghamr b. Yazid). See
F. Gabrieli, ‘II califato di Hisham', Mem. de la soc. royale d'archeol.

561

407

am 6208 Chronogra_phia

d'Alexandrie, 7/2 (1935), 87 n. 4; H. Gregoire, Byz u (1936), 573-4.
Mu'awiya's fellow commander was, however, ‘Abdallah al-Battal.

10. The wording (‘A‘ep iv *tAidat. . . «af Mavias. +. iv... fj-vptaoiv) recalls
I KgS. (i Sam.) 18: 7, tirara*ev SaovX iv xiXiaoiv avrov Kal AavlS iv
/.wpiaaiv avrov.

" This sentence, as given in all the Greek MSS, is extremely awkward.
dB, with some support from Anast., proposes to shift the phrase to1 rwv
Tif-Lajp-evajv ayiuiv rraripuiv avrodi retivei after 8e6v (p. 406. 3). Another
expedient would be to supply (TTapa) after piepiKrjv, that is 'a partial destruc-
tion of the walls next to the church of the holy Fathers’, etc. The awkward-
ness, we suspect, stems from the circumstance that Theoph. has reworked
in a partisan spirit a text that originally contained no mention of images.
There are further signs of alteration lower down (see nn. 12 and 15).

For the church of the Holy Fathers see Janin, Grands centres, 119 (incom-
plete). Further particulars are provided in a sermon, ed. J. Compernass,
Gregorios Lobrede auf die 318 Vater des Konzils zu Nikaia (Bonn, 1909),
29-30, which, we believe, also mentions the siege of 727. Cf. our remarks in
TM 12 (1994), 356-7. The portraits of the Fathers were seen at about the
same time by Willibald (Vita Willibaldi, MGH SS xv, 101. 25, et in ilia aec-
clesia erant imagines episcoporum, qui erant ibi in synodo) and are alluded
to by Nikephoros in his Refutatio et eversio: Alexander, Nicephorus, 246
(mosaics), 254 andn. 4 (wrongly rendered as 'statues'). The 'fact' that the 318
Fathers had allowed themselves to be so represented proved, of course, the
correctness of the iconophile cause.

* An unexpected qualification, perhaps copied mechanically from the
original document.

The restoration of the walls of Nicaea after the ‘humbling’ of the Arabs
thanks to divine help is commemorated by an inscription, ed. e.g. by A. M.
Schneider and W. Karnapp, Die Stadtmauer von Iznik (Nicaea) (Berlin,
1938), 49, no. 29. Whatever exactly happened during the siege of Nicaea
must have encouraged the emperor to proceed with iconoclasm.

“Leo IIL

® Unless this refers back to the victory over the Helladics (who do not
seem to be meant here), op.ocj>vXtov should be corrected to aXXo<f>vXuiv. The
rest of the sentence is somewhat deficient in both clarity and logic.

© A technical term in the iconoclastic controversy: icons were accorded
CTxen/ci) ttpocKwvTjois, that is relative or qualified veneration as opposed to
outright worship. Examples in Lampe, s.v. oxztikos, 2e.

[am 6219, ad 726/7]

Leo, nth year

Isam, 4th year
Gregory, 3rd year
Germanus, 13th year
John, 22nd year

562

Chionogzaphia AM 6121

Il In this year Mauias captured the fort Ateous’ and returned home.II$

"See AM 6218, note d.

" A fort in Phrygia or Galatia, mentioned in connection with the flight of
Leo Phokas in 919: Leo Gramm. 303; Geo. Mon. cont. 889 and other chron-
icles of the same family. See H. Gregoire, Byz 1 (1936), 537-9; TIB 4: 62
n. 132; 7: 194 f.

[am 6220, ad 727/8]

Leo, 12th year

Isam, 5 thyear
Gregory, 4th year
Germanus, 14 thyear
John, 23rd year

Il In this year the son of the Chagan, that is the ruler of Chazaria,
invaded Media and Armenia. In Armenia he encountered the Arab gen-
eral Garachos,’ whom he slew together with his army. After devastat-
ing the lands of the Armenians and the Medes and causing great fear
to the Arabs, he returned home.|Il@

" ce. Chr. 2234, 241. 25-30, AG 1039; Elias Nis. 79 (AH 112); Mich. Syr. ii. 501, AG
1042 (encounter between Khazars and Maslama); Agapios, 246; Ps.- Dion. Chron.
22-3, AG 1043.

" Djarrah b. ‘Abdallah. For the events, see Laurent, Armenie, 210 and
n. 129.

[am 6221 ad 728/9]

Leo, 13thyear

Isam, 6th year
Gregory, 5 thyear
Germanus, 15 th year
John, 24th year

Il In this year Masalmas invaded the land of the Turks. He joined battle
with them and there were many casualties on both sides. Seized by
cowardice, Masalmas took to flight and returned through the moun-
tains of Chazaria.lla

The same year the lawless emperor Leo in his raging fury against
the correct faith summoned the blessed Germanus and began to
entice him with flattering words. The blessed bishop said to him,

563

408

am62,09 Chronographia

"We have heard it said that there will be a destruction of the holy and
venerable icons, but not in your reign.” When the other compelled
him to declare in whose reign that would be, he said, 'That of
Konon.' Then Leo said, 'Truly, my baptismal name is Konon.”* The
patriarch replied, 'May not this evil be accomplished in your reign,
O lord! For he who commits this deed is the precursor of the
Antichrist and the subverter of the divine Incarnation.’ Waxing irri-
tated at this, the tyrant assailed the blessed man as Herod had once
done to the Forerunner. The patriarch reminded him of the
I covenants he had made before becoming emperor, namely that he
had sworn by God not to undermine the Church with respect to any
I of her apostolic and God-given rites. Not even then, however, was
the wretched man put to shame. He spied on the patriarch and tried
to put in his mouth certain statements against his imperial Majesty:
for if, by chance, he found him making such statements, he would
depose him from his throne as a mover of sedition and not as a con-
fessor. In this he had an ally and a partner in the person of
Anastasios, pupil and synkellos of Germanus, to whom he had
promised (inasmuch as Anastasios shared his impiety) to make him
succeed adulterously to the episcopal throne. The blessed man was
not unaware that Anastasios was holding such a perverse position:
imitating his own Lord, he wisely and gently kept bringing to his
attention, as to another Judas Iscariot, the circumstances of the
betrayal. Seeing him, however, to be irrevocably in error, once when
he was on his way to the emperor and Anastasios had stepped on the
hind part of his vestments, he turned to him and said, 'Don't hurry,
you will enter the Diippion? in good time!’ Anastasios was disturbed
by these words and, along with others who had heard them, was
unaware of the prediction, which came to pass fifteen years later, in
the 3rd year of Constantine the persecutor, indiction 12,* and con-
vinced everybody that the prophecy had been delivered to the
ungrateful man by divine grace. For when Constantine had obtained
the Empire after the sedition of his brother-in-law Artabasdos, he
had Anastasios flogged along with other enemies and paraded him
naked in the Hippodrome, by way of the Diippion, seated backwards
on a donkey; and this because Anastasios had cursed him, as did his
other enemies, and had crowned Artabasdos as will be related in the
proper place. So then, this holy and admirable man Germanus was
prominent in defending pious doctrine in Byzantium and fought the
wild beast Leo (fitly so named) and the latter's supporters; while in
the Elder Rome it was Gregory, that most holy and apostolic man,
enthroned next to Peter, the chief apostle, who shone forth in word
and deed and who severed Rome, Italy, and all the western lands

564

Chronographia AM 62,05

from civil and ecclesiastical subjection to Leo and the latter's
domain.’ And in Damascus of Syria there shone forth in his life and
discourse John of the Golden Stream, son of Mansour,° a presbyter
and a monk, a most excellent teacher. Now Leo ejected Germanus,
who was subject to him, from the episcopal throne, while Gregory
reproved him openly in his widely known Letters,’ and John,
together with the eastern bishops, subjected the impious man to
anathema.®

On 7 January of the 13 th indiction,’ a Tuesday, the impious Leo
convened a silentium against the holy and venerable icons in the
Tribunal of the Nineteen Couches, to which he had also invited the
most holy patriarch Germanus, whom he thought he could persuade
to sign a condemnation of the icons. But Christ's courageous servant
was in no way persuaded by Leo's abominable error: after expound-
ing correctly the true doctrine, he resigned from the episcopacy and
surrendered his pallium. Following many words of instruction he
said, 'If 1 am Jonah, cast me into the sea.'° For without an ecumen-
ical council it is impossible for me, O emperor, to innovate in
matters of faith.' He retired to his family house at the so-called
Platanion” having served as bishop 14 years, 5 months, and 7 days.
On the 22nd of the same month of January Anastasios, the spurious
pupil and synkellos of the blessed Germanus, who had adopted Leo's
impiety, was ordained and appointed false bishop of Constantin-
ople! 1° on account of his worldly ambition. Gregory, however, the
holy bishop of Rome, as I have said, repudiated Anastasios along
with his libelli* and reproved Leo by means of letters for the latter's
impiety. He also severed Rome and all of Italy from Leo's dominion.
In his anger the tyrant intensified the assault on the holy icons.
u Many clerics, monks, and pious laymen faced danger on behalf of
the true faith and won the crown of martyrdom. II*

° Cf. Chr. 1234, 2,41. 31-6, ag 1040; Chr. 819,12,AG 1039; Chr. 846, 178; Mich. Syr.
ii. 501: two campaigns, the first in AG 1039, terminating in a flight of the Arabs, the
second in AG 1042; Agapios, 247; Ps.-Dion. Chron. 21-3, AG 1042-3 (two victorious
campaigns of Maslama against the Turks); Elias Nis. 79 (campaigns of Maslama in AH
no and 113). > Cf. Nik. 62. 1-9. © Cf. Nik. 62. 9-12.

i.e. no such destruction had yet taken place.

* Confirmed by Parast. 20, c. 1,Adv. Const. Caball. (composed between
775 and 787) PG 95: 336C, and later sources.

3 The gates of the Hippodrome and the space immediately in front of
them. See our remarks in REB 8 (1951), 152 ff.

* See below, AM 6235 ad fin. Indiction 12 = 743/4. Constantine V regained
Constantinople on 2 Nov. 743. The alleged prediction must, therefore, have
been made in 728/9.

565

409

am 6208 Chronogra phia

> Untrue. In spite of considerable tension, both Gregory II and Gregory III
remained, on the whole, faithful to Byzantium. The break between the Papacy
and Constantinople occurred in the 750s. For a recent survey of this much-dis-
cussed question see P. Riche in Histoire du christianisme, iv (1993), 652 ff.
The expression ‘ecclesiastical subjection’ is also misleading in this context.

® Mansour appears to have been John's given name, not that of his father,
probably called Sergius. See AM 6183, n. 4. The epithet Chrysorrhoas, said to
denote John's wisdom (so Georgius Hamartolus, PG 110: 941C), appears
here for the first time. Cf. also AM 6234.

? Cf. AM 6217, n. 3. The ‘widely known letters’ are probably the two
dubious ones that are preserved in Greek. If that is so, the fabrication of
these documents must be dated not later than c.800.

* This formulation is misleading, suggesting as it does a condemnation
of Leo III by a synod of oriental bishops in which John Damascene took part.
No such synod or joint action is, however, recorded before the synodal con-
demnation of Kosmas of Epiphaneia in 764 (AM 6255), which may have
involved another John, namely the synkellos John of Jerusalem. On this
obscure episode see Melioranskij, Georgij, 93 ff.

° AD 730, when, however, 7 Jan. fell on a Saturday. Most scholars have
opted for the 17th, a simple textual correction.

"© For this exclamation see S. Gero, Vigiliae christianae, 29 (1975), 141-6,
who explains it as a reminiscence of Greg. Naz. De seipso, PG 37: 1158, vv.
1838-42. Gregory was willing, for the sake of concord, to be another Jonah
and be cast in the sea, although he was not responsible for the storm.

"Later tradition identified the Platanion (or Platonion) with the
monastery of Chora. So Passio X martyrum (composed in or after 869),
AASS, Aug. II, 44 1B: iv ru> Xeyopuivu> [[XaTuiviw, yrot iv r?j p-ovfj TRIVw
KaXov/xivrj Xwpa. Vita Germani, c. 31, ed. L. Lamza, Patriarch Germanos I.
von Konstantinopel (Wurzburg, 1975), 238: iv toi nXarajvLcp . . . rrj x*PQ
(sic). Alexander, Nicephorus, 254, summarizing that author's Refutatio et
eversio, notes this passage concerning the iconoclastic Council of Hiereia-
Blachernai: 'They have omitted to mention the lofty plane-tress (nXaravovs)
outside the city walls where this gathering assembled. Therefore, the synod
should be called arXaTavLTT/s, since it remained sterile like that tree.’ The ref-
erence is surely to Blachernai, fairly close to Chora, not to Hiereia, as
Alexander suggests. According to Vita Michaelis syncelli, ed. M. B.
Cunningham, 108, Germanus was banished to the monastery of Chora, in
which he died and was eventually buried. A different tradition may be found
in the prologue to the Latin translation of the Acathist Hymn (first half of
the oth cent.), ed. M. Huglo, Le Museon, 64 (1951), 33 f.: ‘Qui [Leo] .. .
Germanum .. . contra fas, sede in quamdam diaconiam, quam [sic] grece
nomine proprio ei'j ra Brjpov appellatur, crudeliter pepulit, ibique eum dolo

. interfici fecit. Qui sepultus in monasterio ds ra Pw/iaiov vocabulo in
quo. . . devotissime veneratur.'

i.e. the announcement of his ordination. Cf. Lib. Pont. i. 409. 17.
Strictly speaking, Theoph. had not said before that Pope Gregory refused to
recognize Anastasios.

566

Chronographia AM 62,05

[AM 6222, AD 729/30]

Leo, 14th year

Isam, 7th year

Gregory, 6th year

Anastasios, bishop of Constantinople (24 years), 1st year
John, 25th year

I[In this year Masalmas invaded the Roman country. He came to
Cappadocia and captured the fort Charsianon’ by deceit.|la

° Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 501 (Charsianon taken by Mu'awiya b. Hisham, not Maslama|.
So also Tabari, AH 112 (730/1) (Brooks, 'Arabs', 200).

" Situated between Caesarea and the Halys. See esp. I. Beldiceanu-
Steinherr, Byz 51 (1981), 410-29.

[AM 6223, AD 730/1]

Leo, 15th year

Isam, 8th year
Gregory, 7 th year
Anastasios, 2nd year
John, 26 th year

Il In this year Masalmas invaded Turkey.’ He reached the Caspian Gates
and withdrew in fear.II®

" See AM 6221, note a. The second campaign must be meant here.

1 i.e. the land of the Chazars.

[AM 6224, AD 731/2]

Leo, 16th year

Isam, 9th year
Gregory, 8th year
Anastasios, 3rd year
John, 27th year

Illn this year the emperor Leo betrothed his son Constantine to the
daughter of the Chagan, that is the ruler of the Scythians.II*° He 410
made her a Christian and named her Irene. She learned Holy
Scripture and lived piously, thus reproving the impiety of those men.

567

AM 620s Chronogra_phia

IIMauias, son of lsamos, invaded the Roman country. He came as far as
Paphlagonia and withdrew with many captives.||>

Now the emperor, who was furious with the pope for the secession
of Rome and Italy, fitted out and dispatched against them a great
fleet under the command of Manes, strategos of the Kibyraiots.* The
wretched man was, however, put to shame when the fleet was ship-
wrecked in the Adriatic Sea. Then God's enemy became even more
furious: possessed by his Arab mentality, he imposed a capitation
tax on one third of the people of Sicily and Calabria.’ As for the so-
called Patrimonies* of the holy chief apostles who are honoured in
the Elder Rome (these, amounting to three and a half talents? of gold,
had been from olden times paid to the churches), he ordered them to
be paid to the Public Treasury. He also decreed that watch should be
kept to have new-born male infants entered in a register as the
Pharaoh had aforetime done in the case of the Jews—something that
not even his mentors the Arabs have ever done to the Christians in
the East.

"Cf. Nik. 63. 1-4 Mich. Syr. ii. 501; Chr. 1234, 242. 4-7, AG 1041; Agapios, 247.
> Cf. Agapios, 247 in same sequence as Theoph.; Elias Nis. 79 (AH 114).

* It has been conjectured that her original name was Cicek (Turkish for
‘flower'): so G. Moravesik, Studia byzantina (Budapest, 1967), 119-26, on
the basis of a scholion to Cer. 22. 19, which says that a garment called
tzitzakion was introduced by the Chazar empress. Note here the classiciz-
ing term 'Scythians', which is uncharacteristic of Theophanes' usage.

* This is the earliest mention of the strategos of a maritime theme:
Ahrweiler, Met, 51 n. i, 81-3. On the expedition of Manes, which is not
mentioned elsewhere, see O. Bertolini, ByzF 2 (1967), 15-49. He suggests it
was directed against the Lombards, who had temporarily seized Ravenna (in
732). It could not, of course, have been directed against the pope.

3 Under AM 6232 Crete is added to the list. We have translated here the
Greek as it stands, although its interpretation is questionable. A. Guillou,
ZRVhig (1980), 75, translates likewise, but denies that a new tax is meant.
He believes that the patrimonies accounted for two-thirds of the tax yield,
one third being, therefore, 'le reste des terres imposables', and that Leo's
reform consisted in taking direct charge of tax collection, thus excluding the
Church of Rome from the process. Yet, if the one third was not tied to the
patrimonies, why had the government not taxed it directly before this time?
It may be suspected that Theoph. has carelessly paraphrased his source and
that Tw rpirw rFxtPel designated a general increase of tax 'by one third’. So
understood by M. V. Anastos, ByzF 3 (1968), 38.

* Situated in Sicily and Calabria, as stated in the letter of Pope Nicholas
I to Michael III (a. 860), MGH, Epist. 6, 439. 4. Theoph. appears to regard the
patrimonies as a tax yield. On this passage cf. F. Masai, Byz 33 (1963),
198-201, who misunderstands it; A. Guillou, ByzF 5 (1977), 105-7.

568

Chronographia AM 62,05

> i.e. centenaiia. The total sum in question was, therefore, 25,200 solidi.
Codd. e, m read '57' instead of 'three and a half, which would amount to

410,400 solidi.

[AM 6225, AD 732/3]

Leo, 17th year

Isam, 10th year
Gregory, 9 thyear
Anastasios, 4th year
John, 28thyear

ll In this year there was a plague in Syria and many people died.11#

° Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 504, AG 1040; Agapios, 248.

[AM 6226, AD 733/4]

Leo, 18th year

Isam, nth year

Zacharias, bishop of Rome (21 years), 1st year’

Anastasios, 5 th year

John, 29 thyear

In this year Theodore, son of Mansour,? was banished to the desert
regions. IIA fiery sign that gave forth light appeared in the sky.113 Mauias
devastated Asia.II>

ct. Agapios, 248 (Oct.). b ct. Chi. 1234, 242. 15-16, AG 1043; Agapios, 248,
11th year of Hisham.

" Zacharias was pope from Dec. 741 to Mar. 752.
* Perhaps brother of Sergius (above, AM 6183), the latter believed to have

been the father of John Damascene.

[AM 6227, AD 734/s]

Leo, 19 thyear

Isam, i2zthyear
Zacharias, 2nd year
Anastasios, 6thyear
John, 30th year

Il In this year Souleiman, son of Isam, invaded the land of Armenia, but
did not accomplish anything.Ila

569

All

am6208 Chronogra phia

"Cf. Chr. 1234, 242. 17-19, AG 1044 (Sulaiman invades not Armenia, but Roman
territory). So also Agapios, 248, 12th year of Hisham. Cf. below, AM 6230.

[am 6228, ad 735/6]

Leo, 20th year

Isam, 13th year
Zacharias, 3rd year
Anastasios, 7th year

Il In this year Mauias invaded the Roman country. A few days after his
return he fell from his horse and died.|I$

° Cf. Chr. 1234, 242. 20-1, AG 1045; Agapios, 248. Elias Nis. 80 records the death of
Mu'awiya in AH 119.

[am 6229, ad 736/7]

Leo 21st year

Isam, 14th year
Zacharias, 4th year
Anastasios, 8th year

Il In this year Souleiman, son of Isam, took many captives in Asia,
among them a certain native of Pergamon’ who claimed to be Tiberius,
son of Justinian. In order to honour his own son and to frighten the
emperors, Isarrfdispatched this man to Jerusalem with the appropriate
imperial honours, namely a guard of soldiers with banners and scep-
tres, and decreed that he should tour all of Syria with great pomp so
that all should see him and be amazed.II§

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 503-4; Chr. 1234, 242. 22-243. 21, AG 1048, both with further
details, but without mention of Jerusalem.
1

Called Beser in the Syriac sources (to be distinguished from Beser, the
companion of Leo III).

[am 6230, ad 737/8]

Leo, 22nd year
Isam, 15th year
Zacharias, 5th year
Anastasios, 9th year

Il In this year Souleiman, son of lsam, invaded the Roman country and

570

Chronographia AM 62,05

captured the fort called Sideron.1 He took prisoner Eustathios, son of
the patrician Marianos.|I$2

" Chr. 1234, °43-°*-4, records an invasion by Suleyman in AG 1049.

* Agapios, 248 records the capture of the fort Soudour in the 12th year of
Hisham (as in AM 6227). Tabari calls it Sindirah and places its capture in AH
120 (737/8): xxv. 167; Brooks, 'Arabs', 201. Situation unknown.

* The martyrdom of Eustathios is recorded in AM 6232. His father cannot
be identified with any certainty.

[am 6231, ad 738/9]

Leo, 23rd year

Isam, 16th year
Zacharias, 6 thyear
Anastasios, 10th year

In this year, in the month of May, indiction 8,’ Souleiman invaded
the Roman country with 90,000 men under four commanders. One
of these, Gamer,’ led the van with 10,000 scouts and set up
ambushes in the region of Asia. He was followed by Melich*® and
Batal* with 20,000 cavalry as far as the area of Akroinos and, after
them, Souleiman with 60,o00 men advanced to the area of Tyana in
Cappadocia. Those in Asia and Cappadocia captured many men,
women, and animals and returned home unharmed, whereas the
contingents of Melich and Batal were fought and defeated by Leo and
Constantine at Akroinos. Most of them, including the two com-
manders, perished by the sword. About 6,800 of their warriors, how-
ever, fought on? and fled to Synada. They safely joined Souleiman
and returned to Syria. In the same year many were killed by them®
in Africa as well, including the commander called Damaskenos.

* ap 740.

> Ghamr b. Yazid: see AM 6218, n. 4.

3 Malik b. Shu'aib, emir of Melitene, rather than Malik b. Sebib as in Ps.-
Dion. Chron. 25, AG 1046 (attack on Synada).

4 Abdallah al-Battal, later transformed into the epic hero Sayyid Battal.
On these events see F. Gabrieli, 'II califato di Hisham’ (as in 6218 n. 9), 89;
H. Gregoire, Byz 1 (1936), 571-5.

> Or possibly, 'About 800 of their warriors, after standing up to 6,000'
(oxto.kocio. Si 7rov xa 7lai cLyTw N POS A1AiaSaj ivoravres).

° Gramatically it is unclear who killed whom. The reference is probably
to the Arab defeat by the Berbers at the ‘Battle of the Nobles’ near Tangier
(AD 740) and again the following year. Damaskenos may be identified with

571

412

413

am6208 Chronogra phia

Kulthum b. 'lyad, governor of Damascus, whom the Caliph sent to quell the
rebellion, but who was himself defeated and killed. For the events see
Gahrieli, ‘Hisham’, 98 ff.

[AM 6232, AD 739/40]

Leo, 24th year

Isam, 17thyear
Zacharias, 7thyear
Anastasios, nth year

In this year, the 24th ofthe reign of the lawless tyrant, the Syrian Leo,
markets in Damascus were burnt by the Hierakites,1 who were put to
the gallows. IIEdessa was flooded by its stream on the 28th of the
month Peritios.|l@

IlIn the same year a violent and fearful earthquake occurred at
Constantinople on 26 October, indiction 9,* a Wednesday, in the 8th
hour. Many churches and monasteries collapsed and many people
died. There also fell down the statue of Constantine the Great that
stood above the gate of Atalos? as well as that of Atalos himself, the
statue of Arkadios that stood on the column of the Xerolophos, and
the statue of Theodosios the Great above the Golden Gate; further-
more, the land walls of the City,‘ many towns and villages in
Thrace, Nicomedia in Bithynia, Prainetos, and Nicaea, where only
one church was spared. In some places the sea withdrew from its
proper boundaries. The quakes continued for twelve months. I\°

On seeing that the walls of the City had fallen down, the emperor
addressed the people saying: 'You do not have the means to build the
walls, so we have given orders to the tax collectors to exact accord-
ing to the register? one additional miliaresion for every gold piece.
The imperial government will collect that and build the walls.'- So
started the custom of paying two extra carats° to the tax gatherers.I\*°
It was the year 6248 from the creation of the world, that is from
Adam according to the Romans, 6232 according to the Egyptians,
that is the Alexandrians, 1063 from Philip according to the
Macedonians.’ Leo reigned from 25 March of the 15th indiction
until 18 June of the gth indiction,® a reign of 24 years, 2 months, 25
days. So also his son Constantine, who succeeded to his impiety and
his kingdom, reigned from the same 18 June of the gth indiction
until 14 September of the 14th indiction.® He reigned, by God's dis-
pensation, 34 years, 3 months, 2 days.'° So then, as we have said, in
that same year of the gth indiction, on 18 June, Leo died the death
not only of his soul, but also of his body and his son Constantine

B72

Chronographia AM 62,05

became emperor. The evils that befell the Christians at the time of
the impious Leo both as regards the orthodox faith and civil admin-
istration, the latter in Sicily, Calabria, and Crete for reasons of dis-
honest gain and avarice; furthermore, the secession of Italy because
of his evil doctrine, the earthquakes, famines, pestilences, and for-
eign insurrections (not to mention all the details) have been related
in the preceding chapters.” It is now proper to review in succession
the lawless deeds, yea, even more sacrilegious and abhorred by God,
of his most impious and altogether wretched son, yet to do so objec-
tively (inasmuch as all-seeing God is observing us) for the benefit of
posterity and of those wretched and wicked men who still follow the
abominable heresy of that criminal, namely by recounting his impi-
ous actions from the 1oth indiction,” the first year of his reign, until
the 14th indiction, the year of his damnation. Now this pernicious,
crazed, bloodthirsty, and most savage beast, who seized power by
illegal usurpation, from the very start parted company from our God
and Saviour Jesus Christ, His pure and all-holy Mother and all the
saints; led astray as he was by magic, licentiousness, bloody sacri-
fices, by the dung and urine of horses and delighting in impurity and
the invocation of demons. In a word, he was reared from early youth
in all soul-destroying pursuits. And when he took over both his
father's dominion and his wickedness, need one explain how great
an evil he straight away kindled and fanned into a conspicuous flame
that rose up into the air? When the Christians saw these things they
were seized by great despondency, so that everyone immediately
hated him for his effrontery and took up the cause of his brother-in-
law (by his sister Anna), Artabasdos, the curopalates and comes of
Opsikion, with a view to giving him the Empire inasmuch as he was
orthodox.

IIIn the same year Isam, the ruler of the Arabs, put to death the
Christian prisoners in all the towns of his realm, among them the
blessed Eustathios, son of the distinguished patrician Marianos, who
did not abjure his pure faith in spite of much violence and proved to be
a true martyr at Harran, a notable city of Mesopotamia, where his pre-
ciousand holy relics work all manner of healing by God's grace.13 Many
others, too, met their death in martyrdom and blood.IlI¢4

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 504-5, March, AG 1050; Chr. 1234, 243-4, 29 Mar., AG 1051; Ps.-
Dion. Chron. 29, AG 1054. Peritios = Feb. inthe Antiochene calendar. See also above,
AM 6217. >’ Cf. Nik. 63. 4-16 (mentioning St Eirene as one of the churches
destroyed); Meg. Chron. c. 15, Schreiner, 44 (from Theoph.). The earthquake is briefly
mentioned by Mich. Syr. ii. 504, AG 1050, and 511; Agapios, 249. © Cf. Megas
Chr., ibid., abbreviated from Theoph. 4 Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 501, apparently under
AG 1042; Chr. 1234, 244. 6-13, AG 1051. Both express doubt whether Eustathios (called

573

AM 6232 Chionographia

filius Maiini in Chi. 1234], a Chalcedonian, was a true martyr. Neither mentions his

relics.

* Same as the Herakites (AM 6152).

* AD 740. Liturgical commemoration on 26 Oct.: Mateos, Typicon, i. 78.

3 A gate of the Constantinian walls situated along the Mese, hence prob-
ably the original Golden Gate, as shown by Mateos, Typicon, i. 374. Cf. R.
Janin, REB 21 (1963), 268. The identity of Attalos is uncertain (perhaps
Priscus Attalus, western Augustus, 414-15).

‘ The repair of the land walls after the earthquake is amply documented
by a series of inscriptions naming the emperors Leo and Constantine. See
van Millingen, Byz. CP, 98 ff., B. Meyer-Plath and A. M. Schneider, Die
Landmauer von Konstantinopel, ii (Berlin, 1943), 126 ff.

eis Tov Kavova, that is the amount of tax entered in the registers. Cf. F.
Dolger, BZ 42 (1943), 282 f.
1 carat (keiation, a notional denomination) = !4 of a solidus.

7 The accumulation of chronological indications (cf. AM 5983 for the
accession of Anastasios I) is certainly unexpected at this point as is the use
of the obscure era of Philip Arrhidaeus, reckoned from 12 Nov. 324 BC =1
Thoth 425 in the Babylonian era of Nabonassar. Table in Elias Nis. 22-3. Cf.
Grumel, 208. The year of the ‘Byzantine’ reckoning corresponds to 1 Sept.
739—3r Aug. 740, whereas the earthquake occurred on 26 Oct. 740, hence
in the year 6249.

5 AD 741. 9 AD 775.

*° Under AM 6267 the length of his reign is given correctly as 34 years, 2
months, 26 days.

"One may suspect that this passage has been mechanically copied from
an iconophile tract similar in spirit to Nikephoros' Antinheticus III, which
dwells on the plague, famine, and earthquakes in the reign of Constantine
V. Note that Crete has not been previously mentioned (cf. AM 6.24, n. 2),
that the only famine recorded by Theoph. during the reign of Leo III affected
the Arab camp in 717/18, and the only plagues were in Syria (AM 6218, 6225).
The mention of Crete in this passage has been construed by J. Herrin in
Asr>iepai’a orov N. Ufiopwvo (Rethymno, 1986) i. 120-1, as an indication that
the island had been raised to the status of a thema, but that is not supported
by other evidence. See D. Tsougarakis, Byzantine Crete (Athens, 1988),
167 ff.

* AD 741/2. ° He is not recorded in the Byzantine calendar.

AM 6233 [AD 740/L]

Year of the divine Incarnation 733

Constantine, emperor of the Romans (35 years) ist year
Isam, leader of the Arabs (19 years), 18th year

Zacharias, bishop of Rome (21 years), 8th year
Anastasios, bishop of Constantinople (24 years), 12th year

574

Chronographia AM 62,05

In this year the subverter of our ancestral customs, Constantine,
became emperor by God's judgement on account of the multitude of
our sins. 1On 27 June of the following 10th indiction’ he marched
forth against the Arabs and came to a place called Rrasos” in the
region of Opsikion. Now the said Artabasdos was at Dorylaion with
the Opsikian army and they eyed each other suspiciously.
Constantine sent a message to him requesting that the latter's sons be
sent to him, he wished to see them because they were his nephews.
His purpose, however, was to seize them and keep them under guard.
The other, comprehending his treachery and giving up all hope for
himself; being, furthermore, aware of Constantine's infinite wicked-
ness, spoke to his troops and, after winning them over to his views,
attacked Constantine with all his men and killed by the sword the
Saracen-minded patrician Beser who had gone out to meet him. As for
Constantine, he mounted an outrunner that happened to be saddled
and fled to Amorion, where he sought refuge with the Anatolic
thema, commanded at the time by Langinos. They protected him and
he extended to them great promises. He immediately sent a message
to Sisinnakios, who was then strategos of the Thrakesian thema,’ and
persuaded them, too, to fight on his side. Thus two emperors were
proclaimed and there ensued terrible battles and conflicts between
the subjects. Artabasdos, through the agency of the silentiarius
Athanasios, sent an account of what had happened to the patrician
and magistros Theophanes who was the emperor's locum tenens in
the City. The latter, being favourable to Artabasdos, gathered the peo-
ple in the gallery of the Great Church and persuaded everyone, by
means of the letter and the testimony of the said Athanasios, that the
emperor had died and Artabasdos had been proclaimed emperor by the
themata. Thereupon all the people as well as Anastasios, the spurious
patriarch, anathematized and cursed Constantine for being a wretch
and God's enemy and gladly received the news of his murder as if they
had been delivered of a great evil, while they proclaimed Artabasdos
emperor inasmuch as he was orthodox and a defender of divine doc-
trine. Straight away Monotes* sent a message to the Thracian region,
addressed to his son Nikephoros, who was strategos of Thrace, bid-
ding him collect the army that was there so as to guard the City. After
closing the gates of the walls and setting a watch, he apprehended
Constantine's friends whom he scourged, tonsured, and threw in gaol.
After Artabasdos had entered the City with the Opsikian army,’
Constantine, too, arrived at Chrysopolis with the two themata,
namely the Thrakesian and the Anatolic, but he failed to accomplish
anything and so returned to winter at Amorion. Artabasdos, for his
part, restored the holy icons throughout the City. 1”

575

455

AM 620s Chronogra _ phia

lIThe Arabs, aware of the internecine war between those men, made
many captives in the Roman country under Souleiman's command.ll®
As for the false patriarch Anastasios, he swore to the people while
holding the venerable and life-giving Cross, '8sy Him who was nailed
to this, thus did the emperor Constantine say to me, namely, "Do
not regard Mary's offspring, who is called Christ, as the Son of God,
but as a mere man. For Mary gave birth to Him just as my mother
Mary gave birth to me." ' When the people heard this, they cursed
Constantine.

"Cf. Nik. 64. 11-42. The usurpation of Artabasdos is briefly described by Mich.
Syr. ii. 502, and a little more fully in Chi. 1234, 244. 22-34. b Ps.-Dion. Chion.
24-5, AG 1045, describes a raid led by Sulaiman, who captured Pelozonium (sic) dur-
ing the usurpation of Artabasdos. Agapios, 250, speaks of an invasion of Paphlagonia.
Elias Nis. 80-1 records a successful raid in AH 123 (26 Nov. 740-14 Nov. 741) and
another in AH 124 (15 Nov. 741-3 Nov. 742), in the course of which Sulaiman filio
Leonis occunit. Cf. Brooks, 'Arabs', 202; Speck, Aitabasdos, 283 ff.

* AD 742, which would have corresponded to Constantine's 2nd year. The
expression 7-as eVeVeiva 1 ivsikTicuvos is unusual, but we cannot follow W.
Treadgold, JOB 42 (1992), 89 n. 4, in rendering it 'the preceding 10th indic-
tion’. According to Nik., Artabasdos decided to rebel as soon as he had heard
of Leo's death, that is in June 741. The question remains why in this excep-
tional case Theoph. should give the correct AM and the wrong indiction. P.
Speck, Aitabasdos, 78 f., offers a very complex explanation. A simpler one
might be that Theoph. was misled by his Oriental source: Chi. 1234, 244.
22, places the rebellion of Artabasdos the year after the death of Leo III.

Described as being in Phrygia, below, AM 6296. See TIB 7: 317 (probably
west or north-west of Dorylaion on the route to Nicaea).

3 Diminutive of Sisinnios, as he is called by Nik. He is the first known
stiategos of the Thrakesian them a.

* The same as the magistios Theophanes.

> According to Kleinchionik, 2. 3 (Schreiner, i. 46), Artabasdos held
Constantinople 2 years 4 months. That would place his entry in July 741.
Cf. Speck, Aitabasdos, 72-3.

° Pace Speck, there appears to be no reason to doubt that Artabasdos
restored icons as a political move if not from conviction. Cf. Gero,
Constantine V, is ff.

[AM 6234, AD 741/2]

Constantine, 2nd year

Isam, 19th year

Zacharias, 9thyear

Anastasios, 13th year

Stephen, bishop of Antioch (2 years), 1st year

576

Chronographia AM 62,05

llln this year Isam, the leader of the Arabs, died.IIS He had been on
friendly terms with a Syrian monk called Stephen, a man who was rather
simple, but pious. Seeing that the most holy see of Antioch had been
vacant for forty years (for the Arabs forbade that a patriarch should be
appointed there), (he permitted) the eastern Christians, if they wished
to be allowed to have a patriarch, to elect this Stephen. They, believ-
ing that this was happening by God's will, ordained him to the throne
of Theoupolis. This dispensation has prevailed from thattime until now.

llIn this year Oualid, Isam's son,1 became ruler of the Arabs.|l> Both
Constantine and Artabasdos sought his alliance by dispatching to him,
the former the spatharios Andrew, the latter the logothete Gregory. |l¢
There was much drought and earthquakes occurred in several places
so that mountains were joined to one another in the desert of Saba?
and villages were swallowed up by the earth.II¢
/ In this year Kosmas, patriarch of Alexandria, together with his flock
reverted to orthodoxy from the Monothelete heresy which had pre-
vailed from the time of Kyros, bishop of Alexandria under Herakleios.?

IIGamer invaded the Roman country with a multitude of Arabs and
returned after making many captives.ll® In the month of June a sign
appeared in the skyto the north. IK

HOualid ordered that Peter, the most holy metropolitan of
Damascus, should have his tongue cut off because he was publicly
reproving the impiety of the Arabs and the Manichees, and exiled him
to Arabia Felix,lis where he died a martyr on behalf of Christ after recit-
ing the holy liturgy.4 Those who have told the story affirm to have heard
it with their own ears. This man's homonym and imitator, Peter of
Maiouma,*® proved at the same time a voluntary martyr on behalf of
Christ. Having fallen ill, he invited the prominent Arabs who were his
friends (for he served as chartulary ofthe public taxes) and said to them:
‘May you receive from God the recompense for visiting me, even if you
happen to be infidel friends. | wish you, however, to witness this my
will: "Anyone who does not believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
the consubstantial and life-giving Trinity within a unity, is spiritually
blind and deserving of eternal punishment. Such a one was Mouamed,
your false prophet and precursor ofthe Antichrist. If you believe me as
, | testify to you today by heaven and earth (for | am your friend), aban-
don his fables that you may not be punished along with him." ' When
ithey had heard him utter these and many other words about God, they
were seized by astonishment and fury, but decided to be patient, think-
ing he was out of his mind on account of his illness. After he had recov-
ered from his illness, however, he started to cry out even louder,
‘Anathema on Mouamed and his fables and oh everyone who believes
in them!’ Thereupon he was chastised with the sword and so became a

577

416

417

am6208 Chronogra phia

martyr. He has been honoured in a laudation by our holy father John,®
rightly surnamed the Golden Stream because of the golden gleam of
spiritual grace that bloomed both in his discourse and his ife—John,
whom the impious emperor Constantine subjected to an annual
anathema because of his pre-eminent orthodoxy and, instead of his
paternal name, Mansour (which means 'redeemed'), he, in his Jewish
manner, renamed the new teacher of the Church Manzeros.’”

llln the same year (Oualid transferred the Cypriots to Syria.IIh

uAs for Artabasdos, he appointed his son Niketas commander-in-
chief® and sent him to the Armeniac thema, while his other son
Nikephoros he had crowned by the patriarch Anastasios. In the same
year,) in the month of May Artabasdos went forth to the region of
Opsikion and, after raising an army, marched on Asia and started
devastating it. Constantine, upon learning of this, moved against
him and overtook him in the area of Sardis as the latter was coming
up from Kelbianon.° He joined battle, routed him, and pursued him
as far as Kyzikos. On reaching Kyzikos, Artabasdos boarded a ship
and escaped to the City. In the month of August of the same nth
indiction,'° Niketas, the commander-in-chief, gave battle to
Constantine near Modrine,” but was defeated and fled. The patri-
cian Tiridates the Armenian, who was Artabasdos'’ cousin and a
brave soldier, was killed along with other choice commanders and
there was much slaughter on both sides as the Armenians and
Armeniacs fought the Anatolics and the Thrakesians, supporters of
Constantine. The Devil, instigator of evil, roused in those days such
fury and mutual slaughter among Christians that sons would mur-
der their fathers without any mercy and brothers would murder their
own brothers and pitilessly burn each other's houses and homes. u*

Cf. Chr. 819, 12, AG 1054; Chr. 846, 179; Mich. Syr. ii. 502, AG 1056; Chr. 1234,
244-5, AG 1054; Agapios, 250; Ps.-Dion. Chron. 30, AG 1055; Elias Nis. 81 (AH 125).
> Same sources. ¢ Cf. Agapios, 250, without names of envoys. 4 Cf.
Mich. Syr. ii. 506-7, AG 1056 (earthquake in the desert of the Arabs); Chr. 1234, 245.
16-17 (drought only); Ps.-Dion. Chron. 30-2 (drought and plague); Agapios, 250
(drought and earthquakes). " Cf. Agapios, 251, naming 'Umar b. ‘Abd al-'Azlz,
but Ghamr b. Yazid in Al-Ya'kubi: Brooks, 'Arabs', 202. < Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 507,
June AG 1056; Chr. 1234, 245. 18-20, 17 June AG 1054; Agapios, 251. x Cf. Mich.
Syr. ii. 506, AG 1056 (wrongly calling him Chalcedonian patriarch of Syria); Chr. 1234,
245. 21-4, AG 1054 (unnamed Chalcedonian bishop of Damascus). h, GE:
Agapios, 251 (to a place betweenTyreand Sidon). ' Cf. Nik. 65.

” Recte Walid b. Yazid (Feb. 743-Apr. 744).

» i.e. Sheba in south Arabia.

3 There had been no proper Melkite patriarch of Alexandria since Peter III
(6 43/4-651).

4 John Damascene's Contra /acobitas, ed. Kotter, iv. 109, was commis-

578

Chronographia AM 62,05

sioned by Peter of Damascus. The latter was also the recipient of John's
Libellus de recta sententia, PG 94: 1421.

> The same as Peter of Capitolias (in Transjordan), commemorated in
Syn. CP 105-6 (described as a presbyter ordained by the bishop of Bostra,
executed at Damascus). The latter is the subject of a Passio in Georgian, dis-
cussed by P. Peeters, AnBoll 57 (1939), 299-333, and 58 (1940), 123-5.
Several problems remain: (1) According to the indications of the Passio,
Peter was executed on I3jan.7i5,atthe very end of the reign of Walid I, not
under Walid II. (2) Why has a presbyter been transformed by Theoph. or his
source into a chartulary of public taxes? (3) Why has Capitolias been
changed to Maiouma? Regarding Maiouma, Peeters argues that it refers not
to the port of Gaza, but to a monastery called Mimas near Emesa.

7 Mansur = ‘victorious’, or ‘aided [by God]' rather than 'redeemed’. The
Aramaic f-iav‘rjpos, meaning ‘bastard’, occurs in Vita Symeonis sali, ed.
Ryden, 163. 12; fid/u.zipos in Doctr. Jacobi (see index, p. 223). Cf. Gero, Leo
Till, 62 n. 11.

8 On the title iiovoaTpa.TT]yos see AM 6210, n. 4.

° The Kaystros valley: Ramsay, Geogr. 130.

* AD 743. The chronology of Artabasdos' revolt is problematic: whereas
it certainly lasted two and a half years, the narrative of Theoph. appears to
cover only one and a half, and’ there are no extra events in the parallel
account" of Nik., who gives no dates. Speck, Artabasdos, 71 ff., aigues that
the missing year is 741/2 and offers a complicated theory to explain its omis-
sion. Treadgold, }/OB 42 (1992), 87-93, disagrees: he believes that the siege
of Constantinople by Constantine (AM 6235) lasted not barely two months,
but over a year, that is from Sept. 742 to Nov. 743. If the latter hypothesis is
accepted, the battle of Modrine would have to be redated to Aug.
742 = indiction 10.

“Usually identified with Turkish Mudurnu. See Ramsay, Geogr.
459-60; Ruge, RE xv/2 (1932), 233, Modra, Janin, Grands centres, 106-9.
The bishopric of Modrine/Mela was subject to Nicaea. Anast. 272. 7 has
apud Modrinem et Cisseum. The latter name remains unexplained.

[AM 6235, AD 742/3]

Constantine, 3rd year

Oualid, leader of the Arabs (1 year), 1st year
Zacharias, 10th year

Anastasios, 14th year

Stephen, 2nd year

ll In this year a sign appeared in the north and in some places dust fell
down from heaven.Il@ There was also an earthquake at the Caspian
Gates.

579

4!9

420

am6208 Chronogra phia

l|Oualid was killed by the Arabs on 16 April, a Thursday,’ after a reign
of one year, and power was seized by Izid the Defective.2 This man took
Damascus thanks to large distributions of money and received pledges
of submission from the Arabs in Damascus, Persia and Egypt When,
however, these matters had been reported to Marouam, son of,
Mouamed, the governor of Armenia, he arrived in Mesopotamia,
ostensibly to support Oualid's sons and oppose Izid.|Ib Five months
later Izid died, leaving his brother Abraim? to succeed him at
Damascus.Il¢ Marouam made war on him, having on his side the men
of Mesopotamia: he marched to Edessa‘ and thence to the region of
Damascus and the Antilebanon to a plain called Garis,5 where he gave
battle to Souleiman® by the river Litas (that is the Evil river),”7 routed
him, and killed 20,000.® Souleiman fled with a few men and found
refuge at Damascus. When he had entered the city, he slew Oualid's
sons,? whom Marouam appeared to be supporting, and then left
Damascus after laying his hands on a considerable sum of money. Then
Marouam, too, came to Damascus: he killed many prominent men and
those who had lent themselves to the murder of Oualid and the latter's
children, while others he maimed. He then transferred all the moneys
and treasures to Harran, a city of Mesopotamia. II¢

IIIn the month of September, indiction 12,'° Constantine came to
the area of Chalcedon and crossed to Thrace, while Sisinnios, strat-
egos of the Thrakesians, had crossed by way of Abydos and laid siege
to the land walls. Coming to the Charsian gate, Constantine pro-
ceeded as far as the Golden Gate showing himself to the populace
and then withdrew and struck up camp at St Mamas. Those in the
City began experiencing shortages of supplies: accordingly,
Artabasdos dispatched the a secretis Athanasios and Artabasdos, his
domesticus, to bring supplies by ship. The fleet of the Kibyraiots
found these men beyond Abydos, arrested them and brought them to
the emperor, who donated the grain to his own men and straight
away blinded Athanasios and Artabasdos. After this, Artabasdos
attempted to open the gates of the land walls and give battle to
Constantine, but the men of Artabasdos were routed in the engage-
ment and many were killed, including Monotes. Then Artabasdos
constructed fire-bearing biremes and sent them to St Mamas against
the fleet of the Kibyraiots, but when these had set out, the Kibyraiots
sallied forth and chased them away. There was a severe famine in
the City, so much so that a modius of barley sold for 12 nomismata,
a modius of pulse for 19, one of millet or lupins for 8, oil at 5 mea-
sures to a nomisma, and a pint of wine for a semissis.” As the peo-
pie were dying, Artabasdos was forced to let them leave the City, but
he took note of their faces and some he prevented from leaving. For

580

Chronographia AM 62,05

this reason some painted their faces’* and put on female dress, while
others donned monastic costume and garments of hair and in this
guise they were able to escape detection and leave. Now Niketas, the
monostrategos, gathered his army that had scattered at Modrine and
came to Chrysopolis; and as he was turning back, the emperor
crossed the straits and pursued him. He overtook him at Nicomedia
and captured him together with the curator Marcellinus (an ex-
bishop ),'? whom he immediately ordered to be beheaded. The mono-
strategos, however, he chained and exhibited him to his father on
the other side of the walls. On 2 November he suddenly drew up his
forces in the evening and took the City through the land walls.
Artabasdos, for his part, boarded a ship together with the patrician
Baktangios and departed temporarily to Opsikion. He went off to
the fort Pouzane” and made himself secure. The emperor, however,
apprehended them: Artabasdos with his two sons he blinded, while
Baktangios he beheaded in the Kynegion and hung up his head at the
Milion for three days. Thirty years later the unforgiving and merci-
less emperor ordered that man's wife to proceed to the monastery of
Chora (where he had been buried),’® dig up his bones, place them in
her pallium, and cast them at the so-called tombs of Pelagios’”
among the bodies of executed criminals. What inhumanity! He
killed many other prominent men who had assisted Artabasdos,
blinded a multitude without number, and cut off the arms and legs
of others. He allowed the provincial officers who had entered the
City with him to break into houses and seize citizens’ possessions
and inflicted numberless other calamities on the City. He also held
hippodrome games and brought in through the Diippion Artabasdos
with his sons and friends, all in fetters, as well as the false patriarch
Anastasios, who had been publicly scourged” and was seated on an
ass facing backwards. He thus brought him into the Hippodrome and
paraded him, and then once again, after terrorizing him and bending
him to his will (for the man held beliefs similar to his own), seated
him on the episcopal throne. As for Sisinnios, the patrician and
strategos of the Thrakesians, who had helped him greatly and had
fought on his side, and was moreover his cousin, he blinded forty
days later by God's righteous judgement.” For it is written that he
who helps the impious shall fall into his hands.I \°

" Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 507, AG 1057; Chr. 1234, 245. 26-7, AG1054 (dust only]; Agapios,
251; Elias Nis. 81 (AH 127) (extraordinary star in Jan. 745). > Differently in
Mich. Syr. ii. 502-3; Chr. 1234 245. 27-247. 9 and 247. 18-20; Agapios, 251-2.
<= Mich. Syr. ii. 503; Chr. 1234, 247. 9-12; Ps.-Dion. Chron. 40,, Agapios, 253; Elias
Nis. 81 (AH 126) (Yazid reigns 162 days). 4 Fuller account in Chi. 1234, 247.
17-248. 32 (battle of 'Ain-Gara in Nov. AG 1056); short account in Mich. Syr. ii. 505;

581

421

am6208 Chronogra phia

Ps.-Dion. Chron. 40-2 (differently,!; Agapios, 253-5. "Cf. Nik. 66. The final
quotation is loosely based on Eccles. 8: 1.

* Thurs. 25 (read 27) Djumada II, AH 126= 16 Apr. 744 in Elias Nis.
81.

2 0 Aeii/ios-, rendering the Arabic al-naqis, an epithet given to Yazid
because he reduced military stipends. Called Yazid the Simple in Agapios,
251. See L. I. Conrad in ByzF 15 (1990), 29.

3 [brahim b. Walid.

* Read Emesa as in Chr. 1234, 247. 25; Agapios, 253.

> 'Ain Gara (that is 'Andjar| in Chr. 1234, 247. 31, 248. 3; Ps.-Dion.
Chron. 40; between Loubnan andTell-Gara in Agapios, 254.

7 The Litani, connected here with Syriac litd = ‘accursed’.

8 12,000 according to Mich. Syr., Chr. 1234, and Agapios.

° According to Chr. 1234 and Agapios, Walid's sons were killed by 'Abd
al-'Aziz b. al-Hadjadj, son of Ibrahim's brother.

”® AD 743. See AM 6234, n. 10 for the suggestion that the siege of
Constantinople started in Sept. 742. It would indeed be difficult to squeeze
into a period of two months at the most (from Sept. without indication of
day to 2 Nov.) all the events narrated below and to account for the famine
in the City. A mythical version of the siege appears in Gesta episc. Neapol.,
MGH, Scr. rer. Langob. et Ital. (1878), 423. 10-16. On this text see I.
Rochow, Klio, 68 (1986), 194-6.

" Nikephoros, Antirrh. Ill, PG 100: 500C, reports that during the civil
war 1 bushel of wheat sold for 50 nomismata.

* The MSS read eKix>Xvoav TO iavrthv TTpoaaina which makes no sense.
dB suggests tkaXXdmiaav on the basis of Anast.'s emundaverunt. The vari-
ant iKa\wn-Tov (cod. z) ='covered' is equally acceptable. Nik. 66. 7-9 adds
that some people threw themselves down the walls in desperation, while
others bribed the guards to be let out.

Nik. 62. 6 describes him as metropolitan of Gangra.

“ The expression vpos To napov is surprising in this context. Speck,
Artabasdos, 32, suggests that it goes back to a contemporary account, writ-
ten before the capture of Artabasdos.

® Situation unknown. Ramsay, Geogr. 190, places it south of Nicaea.
Speck, Artabasdos, 289, 336 n. 326, believes it may have been much farther
east, on the way to Armenia. Nik. 66. i6-r8 records that on his flight
Artabasdos stopped at Nicaea and recruited some soldiers there.

7 A charnel pit in which bodies of executed criminals were thrown. On
its situation (near the church of St Andrew in Krisei in the western part of
the city) see our note on Nik., p. 222.

8 Note that Tv<GoivIL is dB's emendation based on Anast. All the Greek
MSS read Tyv<X<)gzvTi, ‘blinded’.

. Nik. 66. 24-5 explains that Sisinnios was convicted of plotting against

582

Chronographia AM 62,05

Constantine. His punishment, therefore, was not an act of gratuitous
wickedness, as Theoph. implies.

am 6236 [ad 743/4]

Year of the divine Incarnation 736

Constantine, emperor of the Romans (35 years), 4th year
Marouam, leader of the Arabs (6 years), 1st year
Zacharias, bishop of Rome (21 years), nth year
Anastasios, bishop of Constantinople (24 years), 15th year
Theophylaktos, bishop of Antioch (7 years), 1st year

ll In this year a great comet appeared in Syria.ll? Thebit' and Dahak the
Arourite? rebelled against Marouam. Marouam captured them and
killed them in the territory of Emesa together with 12,000 warriors.II° In
the same year, atthe request ofthe eastern Christians, he allowed that
Theophylaktos, a priest of Edessa, should be ordained patriarch of
Antiochll° (for Stephen had died) and ordered that he should be hon-
oured by the Arabs in public decrees: for the man was adorned with
spiritual gifts, especially that of chastity. I[At Emesa he impaled 120
Chalbenoi II? and he killed Abas in prison—a man who had shed much
Christian blood and had devastated and depopulated many places.
The Ethiopian who was dispatched by Marouam to carry out this task
filled a bag with unslaked lime and, having approached Abas, placed it
over his head and nostrils and so smothered him, thus contriving a just
punishment for the magician. For he had wrought much evil to the
Christians by means of magic and the invocation of demons. He had
also shared in the murder of Oualid.*

° Cf. Agapios, 255; Elias Nis. 81. 18 (AH 127). Possibly the column of fire in the
night sky recorded by Mich. Syr. ii. 507-8 along with many other prodigies.
> CF. Chr. 1234, 248. 33-6, 249. 22 ff. (long account of the civil war); Ps.-Dion. Chron.
42, AG 105 8. Theoph. has confused these events, but may be regarded as giving a sum-
mary of a version similar to that of Agapios, 255-6. Thabit revolted in Palestine;

Dahhak at Kufa. ©“ Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 511, who calls him Theophylact Bar
Qanbara of Harran, and describes him as Marwan's jeweller and a persecutor of the
Maronites. ¢ Cf. Chr. 1234,250. 1-4; Agapios, 256 (Kalbites hanged and exiled;

no number given).

* Thabit b. Nu'aim, leader of the western Arabs. Cf. Caetani, chron, AH
127, no. 16.

* Dahhak b. Qais (Elias Nis. 81.23). Note that he reappears the following
year. For the Harurites, followers of Ali, see AM 6152, n. 1.

3 Members of the tribe of Kalb, whose home was south of Palmyra. For
the rebels executed at Homs, see Caetani, loc. cit.

583

422

AM 6236 Chionogzaphia

4 Al-Abbas b. al-Walid, for whose role in the murder of Walid II cf. Mich.
Syr. ii. 502; Chion. 1234, 245-6. He died in prison at Harranin 750: see EI’, s.v.

[am 6237, ad 744/5]

Constantine, 5th year
Marouam, 2nd year
Zacharias, 12th year
Anastasios, 16th year
Theophylaktos, 2nd year

Il In this year Souleiman gathered his armies and, after engaging
Marouam once again, was defeated with the loss of 7,000 men! and
escaped, first to Palmyrall? and then to Persia. IIThe inhabitants of
Emesa, Helioupolis, and Damascus raised a rebellion and shut their
gates to Marouam. The latter sent his son* at the head of an army
against Dahakll? and himself came to Emesa, which he captured after a
siege of four months.II° Dahak, for his part, was marching from Persia
with a great force. Marouam engaged him in Mesopotamia and, after
killing many of his companions, captured him and slew him.|I°%

uAt this juncture Constantine invaded Syria and Doulichia and
captured Germanikeia,ll** taking advantage of the internecine war
among the Arabs. The Arabs who lived in those parts he sent off
unarmed under a verbal assurance. He took along his maternal rela-
tives > and transferred them to Byzantium together with many
Syrians—Monophysite heretics, most of whom have continued to
live in Thrace to this very day and crucify the Trinity in the
Trisagion® in the manner of Peter the Fuller.

|lFrom 10 to 15 August there was a misty darkness.IK At that time
Marouam, after victoriously taking Emesa, killed all the relatives and
freedmen of Isam.Il He also demolished the walls of Helioupolis,|I"
Damascus, and Jerusalem, put to death many powerful men, and
maimed those remaining in the said cities.

' Cf. Chi. 1234, 250. 16-23; Agapios, 257. > CF. Chr. 1234 250. 32-4;
Agapios, 258. “Cf. Chr. 1234, 250. 1-3; Mich. Syr. ii. 505; Agapios, 259.
4 Cf. Chr. 1234, 251. 10-23; Agapios, 260; Ps.-Dion. Chron. 42. ° Cf. Nik. 67.
1-4. The advance to Duluk is mentioned by Agapios, 259. t Cf. Agapios, 260 (5
days in Aug.). ® Cf. Chi. 1234, 250. 26-7; Agapios, 259. > Cf. Mich. Syr.
ii. 505. Marwan destroys the walls of Emesa and Baalbek: Agapios, 260.

" Forthe defeat of Sulayman see Caetani, Chion., AH 127, no. 17.

? "Abdallah b. Marwan.

3 See Caetani, Chion., AH 128, nos. 9, 12.

4 Tbid., AH 127, nos. 21-2. Duluk (ancient Doliche, modern Duluk) was in

584

Chronographia AM 62,05

Commagene. For the site see Sinclair, Eastern Turkey, iv. 121-2. According
to Baladhuri (Brooks, 'Arabs', 207) Germanikeia was taken and destroyed by
Constantine while Marwan was besieging Emesa.

> His father having been a native of Germanikeia.

® i.e. recite the Trisagion with the Monophysite addition, ‘Who wast cru-
cified for us’.

[am 6238, ad 745/6]

Constantine, 6 th year
Marouam, 3rd year
Zacharias, 13th year
Anastasios, 17th year
Theophylaktos, 3rd year

Il In this year there was a great earthquake in Palestine, by the Jordan
and in all of Syria on 18 January, in the 4th hour. Numberless multi-
tudes perished, churches and monasteries collapsed, especially those
in the desert of the Holy City.1I°

IlIn the same year a pestilence that had started in Sicily and
Calabria travelled like a spreading fire all through the 14th indic-
tion’ to Monobasia,” Hellas, and the adjoining islands, thus scourg-
ing in advance the impious Constantine and restraining his fury
against the Church and the holy icons, even though he remained
unrepentant like Pharaoh of old. This disease of the bubonic plague
spread to the Imperial City in the 15th? indiction. All of a sudden,
without visible cause, there appeared many oily crosslets upon
men's garments, on the altar cloths of churches, and on hangings.
The mysteriousness of this presage inspired great sorrow and
despondency among the people. Then God's wrath started destroy-
ing not only the inhabitants of the City, but also those of all its out-
skirts. Many men had hallucinations and, being in ecstasy, imagined
to be in the company of certain strangers of terrible aspect who, as it
were, addressed in friendly fashion those they met and conversed
with them. Taking note of their conversation, they later reported it.
They also saw the same men entering houses, killing some of the
inmates, and wounding others with the sword. Most of what they
said came to pass just as they had seen it.

In the spring of the 1st indiction‘ the plague intensified and in the
summer it flared up all at once so that entire households were com-
pletely shut up and there was no one to bury the dead. Because of
extreme necessity a way was devised of placing planks upon animals
saddled with four paniers each’ and so removing the dead or piling
them likewise one upon the other in carts. When all the urban and

585

423

424

AM 6238 Chronographia

suburban cemeteries had been filled as well as empty cisterns and
ditches, and many vineyards had been dug up and even the orchards
within the old walls® to make room for the burial of human bodies,
only then was the need satisfied.” When every household had been
destroyed by this calamity on account of the impious removal of the
holy icons by the rulers, straight away the fleet of the Hagarenes
sailed from Alexandria to Cyprus, where the Roman fleet happened
to be. The strategos of the Kibyraiots fell upon them suddenly in the
harbour of Keramaia® and seized the mouth of the harbour. Out of
1,000 dromones? it is said that only three escaped.ll°

" Cf. Agapios, 261 (Jan.): earthquake in Palestine, esp. at Tiberias, where more than
100,000 were killed. Mich. Syr. ii. 509-10; Chr. 1234 254. 33 ff. (without date): dam-
age at Damascus, Tiberias, Mabbug, and elsewhere. Ps.-Dion. Chron. 42-3, AG 1059:
Chalcedonian bishop ofMabbug crushed with his flock. > Cf. Nik. 67. 4-43,- 68.
3-11. Kleinchronik, 1. 17 (Schreiner, i. 45) abbreviates Theoph. as regards the plague.

* AD 745/6. * Monemvasia on the east coast of the Peloponnese.
3 dB mistakenly prints’ th’.
* AD 747/8. This is the date given for the plague in Kleinchronik, 2. 4

(Schreiner, i. 47).

2 Reading Sia s£AlA>V aayp<novp.4vu>v_ vno TET pakavdr/Xov. For the meaning
of this expression see I. Rochow, Klio, 69 (1987), 571-2.

® The Constantinian walls.

7 On the plague see also Theodore Studites, Laud. Platonis, PG 99: 805D.
Nik. Antirrh. Ill, PG 100: 496B-D, adds that the emperor betook himself
during the plague to the suburbs of Nicomedia. So also Geo. Mon. 754 and
Epist. ad Theophilum, PG 95: 364B.

8 Situation unknown. See Sir George Hill, A History of Cyprus, i
(Cambridge, 1940); 262 n. 5; L. Philippou, KvnpiaKai Sirovhal, 6 (1942), 1-5,
who believes the battle did not take place in Cyprus. According to Nik. the
conflict was initiated by Constantine, who sent a fleet against the Arabs.

° Thirty in Anast., probably correctly.

lam 6239, ad 746/7]

Constantine, 7th year
Marouam, 4th year
Zacharias, 14th year
Anastasios, 18 th year
Theophylaktos, 4th year

In this year Gregory’ was killed by the Arourites and Marouam, the
Arab leader, was victorious as | have already said.

His identity is unclear.

586

Chronographia AM 62,05

[am 6240, ad 747/8]

Constantine, 8thyear
Marouam, 5th year
Zacharias, 15th year
Anastasios, 19th year
Theophylaktos, 5th year

In this year a people called the Chorasanite Maurophoroi' rose up in
the eastern part of Persia against Marouam and the entire clan that had
ruled from the time of Mouamed, the false prophet, down to that same
Marouam, that is the so-called progeny of Oumaia. For while the latter
were busy fighting one another after the murder of Oualid, the sons of
Echim and of Alim? (as they are called), who were likewise related to the
false prophet, but were fugitives and lived in hiding in the Lesser
Arabia, gathered together under the leadership of Abraim® and dis-
patched a certain freedman of theirs named Aboumouslim’ to some of
the prominent men of Chorasan asking for armed help against
Marouam. These banded together round a certain Chaktaban® and,
after taking counsel, incited slaves against their own masters and made
great slaughter in one night; equipped with their victims' arms, horses,
and money, they became powerful. They were divided into two tribes,
the Kaisinoi and the Imanites.° Judging the Imanites to be the stronger,
Aboumouslim incited them against the Kaisinoi and, after killing the lat-
ter, came to Persia together with Chaktaban. He made war on Ibindara’
and captured all of his men, some 100,000 of them. He then moved
against Ibinoubeira,® who was encamped with 200,000 men and undid
him also. Then, at the river Zabas, he overtook Marouam, who had
300,000 men, made war on him, and slew an infinite multitude. One
could then see one man chasing a thousand and two men driving ten
thousand, as Scripture says.2 When Marouam had observed that those
men were winning signal victories, he went to Harran and, after cross-
ing the river, cut the bridge which was made of boats. Taking all the
money, his household, as well as 3,000 servants,° he fled to Egypt.

* Deut. 32: 30. ® The story of Marwan's downfall is told quite differently in
the Christian Oriental chronicles. See esp. Chr. 1234, 256. 17 ff,- Agapios, 261-5.
Mich. Syr. ii. 517 is very brief.

‘ ie. the Abbasids. 'Not only were their faces black, but their clothes
also, for which reason they were called Messouadi, meaning black’: Ps.-
Dion. Chron. 44-5.

* Presumably Hashim and ‘All. Lesser Arabia denotes the Roman
province of that name, east and south of Palestine. Cf. AM 6243.

3 Ibrahim al-Imam b. Muhammad b. ‘All: Caetani, Chron., AH 126, no. 12.

587

AM 6238 Chronographia

4 AbuMuslim al-Khurasani: ibid., AH 128, no. 4.

> Qahtaba b. Sabib: ibid., AH 130, no. 4.

° Presumably the Abd al-Qais and the Yemenites: ibid., AH 130, no. 1.

7 Amir b. Dubara, defeated by Qahtaba near Isfahan in Feb./Mar. 749:
ibid., AH 131, no. 5.

8 Ibn Hubaira in Ps.-Dion. Chron. 45; Yazid ibn-Hubaira in Agapios,
262-3. Defeated in Aug. 749: Caetani, Chron., AH 132, no. 3.

° 10,000 in all according to Chron. 1234, 257. 35. The defeat of Marwan
occurred in Jan. 750: Caetani, Chron., AH 132, no. 12.

[am 6241, ad 748/9]

Constantine, 9th year
Marouam, 6th year
Zacharias, 16th year
Anastasios, 20th year
Theophylaktos, 6th year

In this year Marouam was pursued by the Maurophoroi, who captured
him and killed him after waging a very heavy war.' They were com-
manded by Salim, son of Alim,”? one of the aforementioned fugitives
who had sent Aboumouslim on his mission.* The rest of them gathered
in Samaria and Trachonitis? and awarded their leadership by lot to
Aboulabas,* and next to him to his brother Abdela,° and next to the lat-
ter to Ise Ibinmouse.* IIThey appointed Abdela, son of Alim and
brother of Salim, to be commander in Syria; Salim himself to be com-
mander in Egypt; while Abdela, brother of Aboulabas (from whom he
received the nomination to the command) they appointed over
Mesopotamia.|I> Aboulabas himself, who was in supreme authority,
established his seat in Persia, the government and all the seized trea-
sure (which Marouam had carried away) having been transferred to him
and his Persian allies from Damascus. Marouam's surviving sons and
relatives went from Egypt to Africa, whence they crossed the narrow
sea that separates Libya from Europe next to the Ocean at a place
called Septai and settled until this day in Spain of Europe, where some
kinsmen and correligionists of theirs had come to dwell at an earlier
time—the latter being descendants of Mauias who had suffered ship-
wreck there.’ The devastation in the days of Marouam lasted six years
and in the course of it all the prominent cities of Syria lost their walls
except Antioch, which he planned to use as a refuge. Innumerable
Arabs were also killed by him for he was very cunning in civil matters.
He belonged to the heresy of the Epicureans, that is Automatists, an
impiety he had imbued from the pagans who dwell at Harran.®

un On 25 January of the same 3rd indiction? a son was born to the

588

Chronographia AM 62,05

emperor Constantine by the daughter of the Chagan of Chazaria and
he called him Leo. In the same year there was an earthquake and ter-
rible destruction in Syria, as a result of which some cities were
entirely destroyed, others partially so, while others slid down entire,
with their walls and houses, from positions on mountains to low-
lying plains, a distance of six miles or thereabout.’° Eyewitnesses
affirmed that the ground in Mesopotamia was split along two miles
and that out of the chasm was thrown up a different soil, very white
and sandy, in the midst of which, they said, there came up an animal
like a mule,” quite spotless, that spoke in a human voice and
announced the incursion of a certain nation from the desert against
the Arabs, which indeed came to pass.

The next year, in the 4th indiction,” on the feast of holy
Pentecost the impious emperor Constantine conferred the imperial
crown on his son Leo by the hand of the false patriarch Anastasios
who shared his views.] I

* In Aug. 750: Caetani, Chron., AH 132, no. 39.

* Salih b. Ali: Caetani, Chron., AH 132, no. 16. See also Chr. Z234, 258.
33; Agapios, 267-9.

3 East of the Jordan.

4 The Caliph Abu-l-Abbas al-Saffah, proclaimed at Ktifa in Nov. 749.

> Abdallah AbuDja'far, appointed governor of Mesopotamia, Armenia,
etc. (Elias Nis. 82 (AH 133) ).

° "Isa b. Musa, Al-Saffah's cousin. Cf. Agapios, 273.

7 The passage of the Umayyads to Spain 'in the days of Justinian
Rhinotmetos' is recorded by Const. Porph. DAI 21. 28-32, who adds that
these events ‘are not recorded by our historians’. He confuses the first con-
quest of Spain (711) with the establishment of the emirate of Cordova by
‘Abd al-Rahman (756). Cf. Bury, BZ 15 (1906), 527-9.

8 Mich. Syr. ii. 508 says that Marwan did not believe in God.

° AD 750.

* According to Mich. Syr. ii. 5 10 and Chr. 1234, 255. 28 ff. a village near
Mount Tabor was moved 4 miles with all its houses intact, and a source near
Jericho was shifted 6 miles. Cf. Elias Nis. 82 (AH 131).

"A female mule in Nik. 69.12. "*AD75i. Pentecost fell on 6 June.

[AM 6242, AD 749/50] 427

Constantine, 10th year
Mouamed, leader of the Arabs (5 years), 1st year’
Zacharias, 17th year

589

AM6238 Chronographia

Anastasios, 21st year
Theophylaktos, 7th year

In this year the inhabitants of Chalkis rose up against the Maurophoroi
Persians and 4,000 of them were killed in the territory of Emesa. The
same happened in Arabia to the Kaisinoi at the hands of the same
Persians.* Most of the rebellions ceased on the arrival of Marouam's
embalmed head.° In the same year the most holy patriarch of Antioch
Theophylaktos died on the 29th of the month Daisios.*

* Abu-l-'Abbas b. Muhammad (750-4).

* The various rebellions against the Chorasanites are described in Chr.
1234, 260. 16 ff., Agapios, 270-1. The encounter in the territory of Emesa
refers to the battle fought between Abu-l-Ward, governor of Qinnasrin, and
‘Abdallah b. 'All: Caetani, Chron., AH 132, no. 27.

3 On this cf. Chr. 1234, 259. 20-1," Agapios, 269!

4 June.

[am 6243, ad 750/1]

Constantine, nth year

Mouamed, 2nd year

Zacharias, 18th year

Anastasios, 22nd year

Theodore, bishop of Antioch (6 years), 1st year

In this year the new masters slew the greater part of the Christians,
whom they treacherously arrested at Antipatris in Palestine, because of
their being related to the previous rulers.’ Illn the same year
Constantine occupied Theodosioupolis* as well as Melitene and con-
quered the Armenians.II? Theodore, son of Vikarios, a native of the
Lesser Arabia,?> was ordained patriarch of Antioch.

" Cf. Nik. 70. 2-5 (Melitene only, no mention of Armenians). The capture of
Melitene and depopulation of Claudias and Armenia (iv) are recorded in Chr. 1234,
263. 1-7, AG 1063; Mich. Syr. ii. 518, same year; Ps.-Dion. Chron. 55-6, AG IO6I, Elias
Nis. 82 (AH 133); Agapios, 271. For Arab sources see Brooks, ‘Abbasids’, 731-2.

' Chr. 1234, 260. r ff. records that ‘Abdallah b. ‘All established his resi-
dence at Antipatris, where he treacherously killed 7o Umayyads. Cf.
Agapios, 269.

* The capture of Theodosioupolis is recorded separately by Mich. Syr. ii.
521 and Agapios, 278, immediately after the accession of Abu Dja'far.

3 Theodore was a native of the Moab in the Roman province of Arabia:
below, AM 6248.

590

Chronographia AM 62,05

[am 6244, ad 751/2]

Constantine, 12th year
Mouamed, 3rd year
Zacharias, 19 th year
Anastasios, 23rd year
Theodore, 2nd year

In this year the impious Constantine, puffed up in his spirit and
making many plans against the Church and the orthodox faith, held
audiences every day’ and treacherously urged the people to follow
his designs, thus paving the way to the complete impiety that was
later to overtake him.

" The reading aiXivTia xad' exaaTTjv -noicov is confirmed by Anast. (p. 280.
7), silentia per dies singulos faciens. Melioranskij, Georgij, 67-71, argues,
however, that one should supply xcue* zkcicrtyv (-TToxLv), that is 'held audiences
in every city’, the word rrex.v being present (but on what authority?) in the
Paris and Bonn editions (i. 659. 3) of Theoph.

[am 6245, ad 752/3]

Constantine, 13 thyear
Mouamed, 4th year
Zacharias, 20th year
Anastasios, 24th year
Theodore, 3rd year

IIIn this year Anastasios, who had held in unholy fashion the epis-
copal throne of Constantinople, died a spiritual as well as a bodily
death of a dreadful disease of the guts after vomiting dung through
his mouth, a just punishment for his daring deeds against God and
his teacher.’ In the same year the impious Constantine convened in
the palace of Hiereia an illegal assembly of 338 bishops against the
holy and venerable icons under the leadership of Theodosios of
Ephesos,” son of Apsimaros, and of Pastillas of Perge.? These men by
themselves decreed whatever came into their heads, though none of
the universal sees was represented, namely those of Rome,
Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. Starting on 10 February, they
went on until 8 August of the same 7th indiction.* On the latter day
the enemies of the Theotokos having come to Blachernai,
Constantine ascended the ambo holding the monk Constantine, for-
mer bishop of Syllaion, and, after reciting a prayer, said in a loud
voice, ‘Long live Constantine, the ecumenical patriarch! On the

591

429

AM 6245 Chionogiaphi a

27th of the same month the emperor went up to the Forum together
with the unholy bishop Constantine and the other bishops and they
proclaimed their misguided heresy in front of all the people after
anathematizing the most holy Germanus, George of Cyprus,’ and
John Damascene of the Golden Stream, son of Mansour, holy men
and venerable teachers.I\*

* Cf. Nik. 72. The council is also recorded by Mich. Syr. ii. 521, who says that John,
George of Damascus, and George of Cyprus were anathematized by it. Chr. 1234, 263.
15-19 names Sergius, John son of Mansur, and George of Damascus (sic); Agapios,
273, John son of Mansur of Damascus and Gregory of Cyprus.

The exact date of his death is unknown.
His seal in Laurent, Corpus, v/i, no. 255. Cf. AM 6207, n. 6.

3 His name was Sisinnios: Mansi, xiii. 400A, 416C and other sources.

* AD 754. On the council see Gero, Constantine V, 53 ff. Its Definition
(Horos) is preserved in the Acts of 787: Mansi, xiii. 204-356.

> A certain George ‘dwelling on the Mount of Olives in the Cilician
Taurus’ is the hero of The Admonition of the Old Man concerning the Holy
Images. Melioranskij, Georgij, 72 ff., identifies him with George of Cyprus.
The preserved anathemas of the Council of 754 (Mansi xiii. 356C-D) are
directed against Germanus, George (of Cyprus], and Mansour.

[am 6246, ad 753/4]

Constantine, 14th year

Mouamed, 5th year

Zacharias, 21st year

Constantine, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), 1st year
Theodore, 4th year

In this year Mouamed, also called Aboulabas, died after a reign of five
years.’ His brother Abdelas,” who was then at Mecca (the place of their
blasphemy), wrote to Aboumouslim, who was in Persia, to guard the
throne for him as it had been allotted. Now Aboumouslim, on being
informed that Abdelas, son of Alim and brother of Salim, sole com-
mander of Syria, was seeking the kingship and marching to take pos-
session of Persia; furthermore, that he was hostile to the Persians and
friendly to the Syrians who supported him, roused his army and
engaged him at Nisibis.* Having vanquished him, Aboumouslim killed
many men, most of whom were Slavs and Antiochenes. Abdelas, who
alone escaped, sought a few days later a pledge from the other
Abdelas, Mouamed's brother, who in great haste had arrived in Persia
from Mecca. The latter, however, confined him in a ramshackle hut
whose foundations he ordered to be dug up and so killed him by

592

Chionogiaphia AM 62,71

stealth.2 Now Aboumouslim was incensed at the Syrian Arabs for hav-
ing rebelled against the Maurophoroi and taken many captives in
Palestine, Emesa, and on the sea coast, and was intending to attack
them with his army, but Abdelas held him back. The other, furious at
Abdelas, withdrew with his host to inner Persia. Being very much afraid
of him, Abdelas called him back by means of plausible excuses and
entreaties, even with the help of the abominable symbols of their king-
ship—I mean the staff and sandals of the false prophet Mouamed—
asking him to turn aside the distance of one day's journey in his
direction that he might pay him the gratitude due to a father. Thus
deceived, Aboumouslim arrived with 100,000 horsemen and, when he
had joined Abdelas, the latter killed him with his own hands.’ The army
immediately scattered and departed after receiving considerable
largess. In this manner Abdelas achieved the kingship.

" Cf. Chr. 1234, 265. 1-15 (differently); Agapios, 274-6; Mich. Syr. ii. 518 (very
briefly).

" g June 754.
* AbuDja'far al-Mansur, whose name was Abdallah b. Muhammad.

3 On 26 Nov. 754: Ps.-Dion. Chron. 62.
* For the end of Abu Muslim cf. Agapios, 277.

[am 6247, ad 754/5]

Constantine, 15th year

Abdelas, leader of the Arabs (21 years), 1st year’
Paul, bishop of Rome (7 years), 1st year”
Constantine, 2nd year

Theodore, 5th year

In this year Niketas of Helioupolis® was anathematized by the whole
Church.

IIThe emperor Constantine transferred to Thrace the Syrians and
Armenians whom he had brought from Theodosioupolis and
Melitenell* and, through them, the heresy of the Paulicians* spread
about. [Likewise in the City, whose inhabitants had been reduced
on account of the plague, he brought families from the islands,
Hellas, and the southern parts® and made them dwell in the City so
as to increase the population.I\” The same year the Bulgarians asked
for tribute because of the forts that had been built,° and when the
emperor had treated their emissary dishonourably, they made a mil-
itary expedition and came as far as the Long Walls in an advance on

593

430

AM 6238 Chronographia

the Imperial City.I 1 After causing much destruction and taking
many prisoners, they returned home unharmed.’

* Cf. Nik. 73. 1-5; Antirih. Ill, PG 100: 508D {., Agapios, 284. > Cf. Nik. 68.
1-3 (immediately after the plague). © Cf. Nik. 73. 5-9.
* AbuDja'far al-Mansur (754-75). * Paul I (757-67).

3 Identity unknown.
* This is the earliest mention of Paulicians in a Byzantine chronicle. See
P. Lemerle, TM 5 (1973), 78-9.

TOJV KATWTLKTHV FIZPOIV, an expression usually applied without great pre-
cision to Hellas-Peloponnese. Cf. AM 6282 (where it seems to be used in a
wider sense); Bon, Peloponnese, 159 f., Laurent, Corpus, v/i, no. 763.

° For the Syrian and Armenian settlers.
7 Nik. 73. g-11 says, on the other hand, that Constantine pursued the
Bulgarians and killed many of them.

[am 6248, ad 755/6]

Constantine, 16th year
Abdelas, 2nd year
Paul, 2nd year
Constantine, 3rd year

Il In this year, on 9 March, there occurred a considerable earthquake in
Palestine and Syria.ll? Theodore, patriarch of Antioch, was exiled
because of the malice of the Arabs, having been accused of frequently
communicating Arab affairs by letter to the emperor Constantine. And
so, Salim' himself banished him to the land of Moab which was his
native country. The same Salim decreed that no new churches should
be built, that crosses should not be displayed and that Christians
should not discourse with Arabs on matters of religion. 11 He invaded the
Roman country” with a force of 80,000 and, when he had come to
Cappadocia, he heard that Constantine was taking up arms against
him. Taking fright, he returned empty-handed without causing any
damage, except that he took a few Armenians who had joined him.II°

° Ps.-Dion. Chron. 63 records an earthquake in Mesopotamia on 3 Mar. AG 1067.
° Cf. Agapios, 278, with different details.

"Salih b. 'All. He was governor of Egypt down to AH 140 (757/8). In AH 141
(758/9) he was appointed over Qinnasrin (Chalkis), Emesa, and Damascus:
Tabari, Williams, i. 28, 31, 36, 44. His measures against the Christians,
including the patriarch of Antioch, would thus appear to date from 758/9.

* Salih led two expeditions to rebuild Melitene, the first inAHi38(755/6),
the second the following year (which is probably the one meant here). On

594

Chronographia AM 62,05

the latter occasion he entered Byzantine territory by the pass of Adata:
Tabari, Williams, i. 29, 32. Cf. Brooks, 'Abbasids', 733.

[am 6249, ad 756/7]

Constantine, 17th year
Abdelas, 3rd year

Paul, 3rd year
Constantine, 4th year

ll In this year Abdelas intensified the taxation of Christians,II? so much
so that he laid taxes on all monks, solitaries, and stylites who led lives
pleasing to God. He also put under seals the treasuries of churches and
brought Jews to sell their contents and these were bought by freed-
men.

"Cf. Mich. Syr. ii. 522; Chr. 1234, 265. 24-30 (exactions carried out by Musab.
Mus'ab, governor of Mosul).

[am 6250, ad 757/8]

Constantine, 18th year
Abdelas, 4th year
Paul, 4th year
Constantine, 5th year

In this year Constantine conquered the Sklavinias in Macedonia and
subjected the rest.’

The same year some of the Persian Maurophoroi who were of the
Magian religion were deceived by the Devil: after selling their posses-
sions, they went up naked on the walls and threw themselves down,
believing that they would fly up to heaven. But having no appreciable
share of the heavenly kingdom, they returned to earth and broke their
limbs. The leaders oftheir error, who were sixteen in number, were put
to death at Beroia and Chalkis by Abdelas acting through Salim.”

" The wording is unclear. For the Sklavinias see AM 6149, n. i, P. Charanis
in Balkan Studies, 11 (1970), 11 ff.

* On Salih see AM 6248, n. 1. The incident related here may be connected
with the uprising in AH 141 (758/9) of the Khurasani Rawandiya, who
believed in the transmigration of souls. See Tabari, Williams, 37 ff. and
below, AM 6252.

595

431

AM 6238 Chronographia

[AM 6251, AD 758/9]

Constantine, 19th year
Abdelas, 5 th year

Paul, 5 th year
Constantine, 6th year

In this year the Arabs maliciously expelled the Christians from govern-
ment chanceries for a short time, but were once again obliged to
entrust the same duties to them because they were unable to write
numbers.

The Arabs invaded the Roman country and took many prisoners.
They killed Paul, strategos of the Armeniacs, along with many of his
soldiers, whom they fought at the river Melas,’ and captured forty-
two prominent men and many officers.

The emperor invaded Bulgaria. When he had come to the pass of
Beregaba, the Bulgarians encountered him and killed many of his
men, among them Leo, patrician and strategos of the Thrakesians,”
another Leo who was logothete of the Course, as well as numerous
soldiers whose arms they took. And so he returned ingloriously.?

" There were several rivers of that name in Asia Minor. See Ruge, RE xv/r
(1931), 440. Perhaps a tributary of the Halys (modern Karasu) is meant. Cf.
TIB 2: 233. Arab sources have no clear reference to this campaign. Cf. Lilie,
170.

* His seal in Zacos-Veglery, i/2, no. 2132.

3 Nik. 73. ir-20 speaks instead of a successful expedition, including a
defeat of the Bulgarians at Markellai. For attempts to reconcile these two
accounts see Lombard, Constantin V, 43-5; Besevliev, Protobulg. Periode,
209-ro. Cf. our comments on Nik., p. 219.

[AM 6252, AD 759/60]

Constantine, 20th year
Abdelas, 6th year

Paul, 6 th year
Constantine, 7th year

Il In this year there was an error concerning the date of Easter and,
whereas the eastern orthodox celebrated Easter on 6 April, ' the mis-
guided heretics did so on the 13th.II?

In the same year the head of St John the Forerunner and Baptist was
translated from the monastery of the Cave to his splendid church in the
city of Emesa and a crypt was built, wherein to this very day it is wor-
shipped by the faithful and honoured with both material and spiritual

596

Chionogiaphia AM 62,71

incense while it pours cures upon all who come to it in a spirit of
faith.”

Il In the same year a very bright comet appeared for ten days in the
east and another twenty-one days in the west.Il°

A certain Theodore, a Lebanese Syrian, rose up against the Arabs in
the territory of Helioupolis, which adjoins the Lebanon, and fought
them: many were killed on both sides. In the end he was routed and
fled and all his Lebanese companions were slain.

Il In Africa there was disorder and warll° following an eclipse of the
sun on 15 August,° a Saturday, at the 10th hour.

Some of the Maurophoroi rose up at Dabekon‘ proclaiming the
Caliph's son® to be a god inasmuch as he was their provider, a doctrine
they made public. The Maurophoroi entered the house of their error
and killed the key-bearers who numbered sixty. Some of them went
forth to Basrason,° took many captives, and a big sum of money.

" In 760.

* St John's head was discovered in 452 (rather than 453), an event that
caused a great stir at the time. The essential text is the account by the archi-
mandrite Marcellus of the monastery of the Cave (BHG 840), ed. Du Cange,
Traite histozique du chef de S. fean Baptiste (Paris, 1665), 215 ff. See also
Marcell. com. and Chron. Pasch. a.453; Whitby and Whitby, Chron. Pasch.
82 n. 270, who are, however, unaware of the text by Marcellus. On the
church of St John at Emesa, half of which was turned into a mosque, see Le
Strange, Palestine, 353.

3 AD 760.

* Dabik, north of Aleppo, close to a large plain used for stationing troops.
SeeDussaud, Topographie, 474; EI, s.v.

> Al-Mahdi. According to Tabarl, Williams, i. 37, the Shiite Rawandiya
regarded the Caliph as divine because he gave them to eat and drink.

° Basra (Basrathon in AM 6255).

[am 6253, ad 760/61]

Constantine, 21st year
Abdelas, 7th year

Paul, 7th year
Constantine, 8th year

In this year the Kasiotai' rebelled against the Maurophoroi on account
of their women. For a number of them? lived in a house wherein three
brothers also dwelt and they wanted to drown their wives. So the three

597

AM6238 Chronographia

brothers rose up, killed them, and buried them. Their companions
assembled and killed the rest. Then Selichos® sent out his troops, who
came upon them by deceit, captured them, hanged the three brothers
and killed many others. On the feast of Easter he entered the church
during holy service, and as the metropolitan was standing by and say-
ing loudly the words, 'For Thy people and Thy Church entreat Thee',*
they took him out and confined him in a prison, and another completed
the holy service. There ensued great fear. Had not the metropolitan
assuaged him by means of tactful behaviour and humble words, great
evil would have been done at that time. It was the most blessed
Anastasios.°

In the same year Constantine the persecutor killed by scourging in
the Hippodrome of St Mamas the illustrious monk Andrew, sur-
named Kalybites, who practised at Blachernai, because the latter had
reproved his impiety and called him a second Valens and a second
Julian.® The emperor ordered him to be thrown in the Bosporus, but
his sisters snatched him away and buried him at the trading post of
Leukadios.’

" A gloss in MSS e, m explains that these were Arabs descended from
Kar/s, that is members of the tribe of Qays, whom Theoph. elsewhere calls
Kdiaivol. The Kasiotai appear, however, to have been Christian. dB (p. 637)
suggests that they may have been inhabitants of Mount Kasios near
Antioch.

* Presumably of the Maurophoroi.

Presumably the same Salih whom Theoph. previously called Salim.
During the Invocation: Brightman, Liturgies, 5 3.

It is not made clear of what city Anastasios was metropolitan.
Apparently the first victim of Constantine's persecution, Andrew is not
otherwise known. G. Millet, BCH 70 (1946), 396-8, tried to show that
another iconophile monk, Anastasios, allegedly burnt in the Hippodrome
(Parast., 61, c. 63) met his end in 742 or 743, but his argument is not con-
vincing. Syn. CP 689. 52 records a St Peter of Blachernai, killed by scourg-
ing, possibly confused with Andrew. Cf. AM 6259, n. 8.

7 There was a monastery tov AevKaSCov in the diocese of Chalcedon.
Janin, Grands centres, 425, does not connect it with Cape Leukate on the
grounds that the latter would have been subject to Nicomedia.

3
4
5
6

[am 6254, ad 761/2]

Constantine, 22nd year

Abdelas, 8 th year

Constantine, bishop of Rome (5 years), 1st year’
Constantine, 9th year

598

Chronographia AM @5

In this year a comet appeared in the east and Fatima's son was
killed.?

u The Bulgarians rose up, killed their hereditary lords and set up as
their king an evil-minded man called Teletzes who was 30 years old.
Many Slavs escaped and joined the emperor, who settled them on
the Artanas.* On 16 June the emperor marched into Thrace after dis-
patching a fleet by way of the Black Sea—as many as 800 chelandia,
each carrying 12 horses.* When Teletzes had heard of the expedition
against him both by land and by sea, he recruited 20,000 men among
the neighbouring nations to fight on his side and, after stationing
them at the fortifications, made himself secure. The emperor, for his
part, encamped in the plain of Anchialos. On 30 June of the 1st indic-
tion,? a Thursday, Teletzes came marching with a multitude of
nations and, battle having been joined, there was mutual slaughter
for a long time. Teletzes was routed and fled. The battle lasted from
the 5th hour until evening. Great numbers of Bulgarians were killed,
many were captured, and others deserted.° Elated by this victory, the
emperor celebrated a triumph in the City, which he entered in full
armour together with his army to the acclamations of the demes,
dragging the Bulgarian captives in wooden fetters. The latter he
ordered to be beheaded by the citizens outside the Golden Gate. 1"
The Bulgarians rose in rebellion, killed Teletzes together with his
chieftains, and set up as their king Sabinos,’ the brother-in-law of
their former lord, Kormesios. When Sabinos had straight away sent
an embassy to the emperor seeking to make peace, the Bulgarians
called a meeting and opposed him strenuously, saying, 'On your
account Bulgaria is about to be enslaved by the Romans.’ A rebellion
having ensued, Sabinos fled to the fort of Mesembria and went over
to the emperor. 1? The Bulgarians set up another lord over them-
selves by the name of Paganos.®

« cf. Nik. 75) 76. 1-21. > cr. Nik. 77. 1-9.

* In fact, 767-9.

* Mich. Syr. ii. 522, AG 1074, and Agapios, 282 (gth year of 'Abdallah)
record the revolt at Medina and death of Muhammad [b. ‘Abdallah b.
Hassan], a descendant of Fatima. The revolt started on 23 Sept. 762: Tabari,
Williams, i. 90. Hence the present entry is placed one year too early.

3 On the Black Sea coast, near gile: Ramsay, Geogr. 438. Nik. 75.4 puts
the number of Slav refugees at 208,000 and dates the migration, which he
does not connect to developments in Bulgaria, several years after the winter
of 763/4. According to Zlatarski, i/i. 276, the usurpation of Teletz occurred
in late 761.

* To the Danube according to Nik. 76. 10. > AD 763.

599

433

434

AM 6238 Chronographia

° For the heavy casualties cf. Nik. Antirrhet. Ill, PG 100: 508B.

7 Apparently the same as Vinekh in the Bulgarian Princes’ List. See Bury,
BZ 19 (1910), 143-4; Zlatarski, i/i. 285 n. 38, 465-6; Besevliev, Protobulg.
Periode, 212 n. 3.

5 Perhaps the same as Kampaganos (a title rather than a proper name),
whose death in 765 is recorded by Nik. 79. 8-10. See Besevliev, op. cit. 219,
505 ff.

fam 6255, ad 762/3]

Constantine, 23rd year
Abdelas, gth year

Constantine, 2nd year
Constantine, 10th year

In this year the inhabitants of the desert and of Basrathon rebelled
against Abdelas under the leadership of two brothers’ against whom
he sent [an army] and killed them along with 80,000 soldiers. In the
same year the Turks went out of the Caspian Gates, killed many peo-
ple in Armenia, took many captives, and returned home.’

A certain Kosmas surnamed Komanites,’ bishop of Epiphaneia (in
the region of Apameia in Syria), on being accused by the citizens of
Epiphaneia before Theodore, patriarch of Antioch, concerning the
alienation of consecrated objects, and being unable to make them
good, renounced the orthodox faith and gave his adherence to
Constantine's heresy directed against the holy icons.* By common con-
sent, Theodore, patriarch of Antioch, Theodore of Jerusalem, and
Kosmas of Alexandria, together with their suffragan bishops, unani-
mously anathematized him on the day of holy Pentecost after the read-
ing ofthe holy Gospel, each in his own city.®

IlIn the same year, starting in early October, there was very bitter
cold, not only in our land, but even more so to the east, the north,
and the west, so that on the north coast of the Pontos to a distance
of 100 miles the sea froze from the cold to a depth of thirty cubits.
The same happened from Zigchia® to the Danube, including’ the
river Kouphis, the Danastris, the Danapris, and Nekropelai, and the
rest of the coast as far as Mesembria and Medeia.® All this ice was
snowed upon and grew by another twenty cubits, so that the sea
became indistinguishable from land: upon this ice wild men and
tame animals could walk from the direction of Chazaria, Bulgaria,
and other adjoining countries. In the month of February of the same
2nd indiction? this ice was, by God's command, split up into many
different mountain-like sections which were carried down by the
force of the winds to Daphnousia” and Hieron” and, by way of the

600

Chronographia AM 62,05

Straits, reached the City and filled the whole coast as far as the
Propontis, the islands, and Abydos. Of this I was myself an eyewit-
ness, for I climbed on one of those [icebergs] and played on it
together with some thirty boys of the same age. Some of my wild and
tame animals also died.” Anyone who so wished could walk with-
out hindrance as on dry land from Sophianai® to the City and from
Chrysopolis to St Mamas and to Galata. One of the icebergs struck
the jetty of the Acropolis and crushed it. Another huge one struck
the wall and shook it greatly so that the houses on the inside partook
of the quake. It then broke into three pieces and ringed the City from
the Mangana to the Bosporus,” rising in height above the walls. All
the inhabitants of the City, men, women, and children, ceaselessly
watched these things and would return home with lamentation and
tears, not knowing what to say.II"

ulIn the same year, in the month of March the stars were seen
falling from heaven all at once, so that all the observers thought it
was the end of the present world. \” Then there was a great drought,
so much so that sources dried up.’* The emperor summoned the
patriarch and said to him: 'What harm is there if we call the Mother
of God Mother of Christ?’ The other embraced him and said: 'Have
mercy, O lord! May not this statement come even to your mind.
Don't you see how much Nestorios is held up to public scorn and
anathematized by the whole Church?’ The emperor replied: 'I have
asked you for my own information. Keep it to yourself."°

° Cf. Nik. 74; Kleinchronik, 2. 6, p. 48, wrongly dated indiction 1. > Cf. Nik.
71; Kleinchronik, 2. 7, p. 48, indiction 2, Ps.-Dion. Chron. 67, 4 Jan. AG 1076.

" Muhammad b. Abdallah, whose death is reported under AM 6254, and
Ibrahim b. Abdallah, who seized Basra and was defeated in battle in Feb. 763.
See Tabari, Williams, i. 151 ff., EI’, s.v. Ibrahim b. Abd Allah’.

> On the Khazar incursion cf. Agapios, 283-4; Tabari, Williams, i. 177, AH
145 (762/3): 'This year the Turks and the Khazars came out of their territory
by Darband, and slew a great number of Muslims in Armenia.’ For further
details see Laurent, Armenie, 228 u. 130.

3 i.e. a native of Komana, eithertheoneinArmenialortheoneinPontos
Polemoniakos.

‘ A bishop named Kosmas appears as the iconoclast spokesman in The
Admonition of the Old Man. On his possible identity with Kosmas of
Epiphaneia (Hama) see Melioranskij, Georgij, 75-6.

> In 767 Theodore of Jerusalem sent to Pope Paul I a synodica dealing with
the question of images, approved by the two other oriental patriarchs and
many other bishops: Cod. Carolinus, MGH, Epist. iii. 652 f. It was read at
Nicaea in 787: Mansi xii. 1135 ff. Cf. L. Wallach, Diplomatic Studies in Latin

and Greek Documents from the Carolingian Age (Ithaca, NY, 1977), 99 n. 74-

601

435

AM 6238 Chronographia

® Usually spelled Zichia (the land of the Zichoi) or Ze(k)chia, on the
north-east coast of the Black Sea. See Anon. Periplus, 15, 18, 20 in
Baschmakoff, Synthe.se, 136; DAI 6. 5, 42. 97ff. Acta Andreae apostoli, ed.
M. Bonnet, AnBoll 13 (1894), 333-4; Epiphanius, Vita S. Andieae, PG 120:
244. Also archbishopric, including originally cities of Cherson, Bosphoros,
andNikopsis (Darrouzes, Notitiae, 1. 62-4; 2. 66-8, etc.), later equated with
Tamatarcha.

7 We have translated ad sensum, the construction being very loose (awo
Ziyyias fi\xpi v Aavovftiov kcu Tov KovtJ>: 7rorajU.ou, Tov Aavaorpi re Kal
Aavarrpi, etc.). The stretch of coast from Zichia to the mouth of the Danube
would naturally have included the other localities mentioned.

5 Ancient Salmydessos, modem Midye. ° AD 764.

© Modern Kefken Adasi, a small island off the north coast of Asia Minor,
west of the mouth of the Sangarios. See K. Ziegler, RE ii/n (1936), 718-20,
Thynias 2.

“Modern Anadolu Kavagi near the mouth of the Bosporus: Janin, CP,
485; Giands centres, 10.

* See Introduction, p. lviii.

3 Cf. AM 6061. Sophianai, the palace built by Justin II, is usually placed
at Qengelkoy on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus: Janin, CP, 489. It may,
however, correspond to the 6th-cent. Byzantine ruin (not that of a church) at
Beylerbey, on which see K. Lehmann-Hartleben, BNJ 3 (1922), 110-13; S.
Eyice, Bizans devrinde Bogazigi (Istanbul, 1976), 55, figs. 68-72.

‘4 With reference either to the Acropolis point or to the old Prosphorion
(Bosphorion) harbour, a short distance west of the point. On the latter see
Patria, 263, c. 149.

® Perhaps with reference to the drought of AM 6258.

‘© For Constantine's hostility to the Theotokos cf. Nikephoros, Antirrh.
I, PG 100: 216D f., Antirrh. II, 341A-D and later sources.

am 6256 [ad 763/4]

Year of the divine Incarnation 756

Constantine, emperor of the Romans (35 years), 24th year
Abdelas, leader of the Arabs (21 years), 10th year
Constantine, bishop of Rome (5 years), 3rd year
Constantine, bishop of Constantinople (12 years), nth year

In this year the Turks went forth again to the Caspian Gates and to
Iberia. They fought the Arabs and there were many casualties on both
sides."

As for Abdelas, he used the following ruse to remove from power Ise
Ibinmouse who, as we have said above, had received the third lot of
ruling after him. Observing him to suffer from a migraine on one side
of his head, which filled him with dizziness, he persuaded him that he

602

Chronographia AM @95

would be cured if he were injected in the nose with a sneezing drug
that was prepared by his physician, a certain Moses (a deacon of the
Church of Antioch), whom he had already bribed to concoct a very
strong medicine that would also act as a potent narcotic. Thus con-
vinced by Abdelas, the same Ise, even though he took precautions not
to eat with him for fear of a plot, received the nose medicine. Having
had the regions of his head injected and been deprived of his senses
and his reasonable faculties, he lay speechless. Then Abdelas called in
the leaders and prominent men of their race and said, 'What do you
think about your future king?' They unanimously repudiated him and
pledged themselves to the son of the same Abdelas, Mouamed, sur-
named Madi. As for Ise, they conveyed him to his house, senseless as
he was. Three days later, when he had recovered, Abdelas consoled
him with feigned excuses and repaid the injury with 100 talents of
gold.”

IlIn the same year Paganos, the lord of Bulgaria, sent an emissary
to the emperor requesting a personal meeting. Having received a
pledge, he came down with his boyars. The emperor, having taken
his seat and having Sabinos seated next to him, received them and
reproved them for their disorderly conduct and their hatred for
Sabinos. And so they made a semblance of peace.I\" The emperor,
however, sent a secret mission to Bulgaria and apprehended
Sklavounos, chief of the Severi,t who had caused much damage in
Thrace. Also arrested was Christianos, a renegade from the
Christian faith and leader of the Skamaroi.*> They amputated his
arms and legs at the pier of St Thomas’ and, in the presence of physi-
cians, dissected him alive from the genitals to the chest so as to com-
prehend the construction of the human body. Then they consigned
him to the fire.

Of a sudden the emperor left the City and, finding the passes
unguarded because of the nominal peace, invaded Bulgaria as far as
the Tounza.’” He set fire to the courts® that he came across and
returned in fear without having accomplished any brave deed.?

° Cf. Nik. 77. 14-18.

" Cf. Elias Nis. 84 (AH 147 = 764/5); Tabarl, Williams, i. 186, same year,
mentioning Armenia and Tiflis.

* For the removal of 'isa b. Musa from the succession see Tabarl,
Williams, i. r88 ff., AH 147 (764/5). 'Isawas ill, possibly as the result of poi-
son, but recovered. The physician who treated him is named as the
Nestorian Bukhtishu'Djurdjis AbuDjibra'il, not Moses. 'Isais said to have
demanded ten million dirhams as compensation for renouncing his rights.

3 According to Nik. 78. 1 peace was concluded in indiction r (762/3).

603

437

AM 62,56 Chronogiaphia

* On the Slavonic tribe of the Seberioi see DAI 9. 108 and Commentary,
61.

> The Skamareis (not, it seems, an ethnic designation) are named at the
end of the 6th cent, by Menander Protector, frg. 15.6 (frg. 35 in FHG iv. 237)
as robber bands in the Danubian area. Cf. A. D. Dmitrev, VizViem 5 (1952),
3-14; RE Suppl. 11 (1968), 1239-42.

® At the harbour of Sophia, next to which there was a church of St
Thomas.

7 i.e. the river Tundza. The Greek MSS have ews Tovv‘as or ecu? tro Bas
(presumably Bizye in Thrace, which makes no sense here). dB, following
Anast., prints ecu? tov TgiVa?. Besevliev, Piotobulg. Inschr. 267, thinks that
the correct form was Tovrla.

8 Or ‘fortified camps’ (auAas), the standard term for Bulgar settlements.

° This presumably corresponds to the expedition of indiction 3 (764/5),
told very differently by Nik. 79.

[am 6257, ad 764/5]

Constantine, 25 th year
Abdelas, nth year
Constantine, 4th year
Constantine, 12th year

Illn this year, on 20 November of the 4th indiction,’ the impious and
unholy emperor, becoming enraged at all God-fearing people, com-
manded that Stephen, the new Protomartyr (who was a recluse at St
Auxentios,” the mountain close to Damatrys) should be dragged in
the street. Having apprehended him, the scholaiii and members of
the other tagmata (who partook of the emperor's boorishness and
shared his views) tied a cord to one of his feet and dragged him off
from the Praetorium to the quarter of Pelagios, where they broke
him apart and threw his venerable remains in the ditch of executed
criminals because he had admonished many people to enter the
monastic life and had persuaded them to scorn imperial dignities
and moneys. This man was venerated by all because he had spent
about sixty years’ in his hermitage and shone with many virtues.
The emperor also inflicted various punishments and cruel tortures
on many officers and soldiers who had been traduced for worship-
ping icons. He imposed a general oath on all the subjects of his
empire that no one would worship an icon.* Furthermore, he caused
the false patriarch Constantine to mount the ambo, raise the holy
life-giving Cross, and swear that he was not a worshipper of icons. 1°
Straight away he persuaded him to assume a clerical instead of a
monastic tonsure,’ to partake of meat, and to put up with cither

604

Chronographia AM 95

music at the imperial table. It was not long, however, before divine
Justice delivered him into the murderer's hands.

uOn 21 June of the 4th indiction® the emperor set out against the
Bulgarians and dispatched to Achelos’ 2,600 chelandia which he
equipped with contingents drawn from all the themata. When these
had been beached along the shore, a north wind blew and nearly all
of them were smashed. So many men were drowned that the
emperor ordered fishing nets to be extended to collect and bury the
dead. On 17 July he returned ignominiously to the City.

On 21 August of the same 4th indiction he held up to public scorn
and dishonour the monastic habit in the Hippodrome by ordering
that each monk hold a woman by the hand and so process through
the Hippodrome while being spat upon and insulted by all the peo-
ple. And likewise on the 25th of the same month nineteen promi-
nent dignitaries were brought to the Hippodrome and paraded for
having made evil designs on the emperor. They had been falsely
accused, but, in fact, the emperor bore them a grudge because they
were handsome and strong and were praised by everyone,- and some
of them because of their piety and for resorting to the aforemen-
tioned recluse® whose sufferings they proclaimed in public. These
men he killed, the foremost among them being Constantine, patri-
cian and former logothete of the Course, whom he nicknamed
Podopagouros;’ his brother Strategios, spatharios and domestic of
the excubitors; Antiochos, former logothete of the Course and strat-
egos of Sicily;’° David, follower of Beser,” spatharios and comes of
Opsikion; Theophylaktos of Ikonion, protospatharios and strategos
of Thrace; Christopher, follower of the patrician Himerios,” a
spatharios; Constantine, spatharios and imperial protostrator, son
of the patrician Bardanes; Theophylaktos the candidatus, follower
of Marinakes,? and others. After exposing these men to scorn dur-
ing the hippodrome games and causing them to be spat upon and
cursed by all the people, he delivered his verdict. The two brothers,
namely Constantine and Strategios, he beheaded at the Kynegion.
There was much lamentation over them by all the people, so that
when the emperor had been informed of it, he was annoyed and
flogged the prefect Prokopios, whom he deprived of his office for
having permitted this manifestation. All the others he blinded and
exiled, and every year the madman ordered that emissaries should be
sent to their respective places and give them a hundred lashes.

On 30 August of the same 4th indiction he of the evil name
became enraged at his namesake and sectary, the patriarch. He found
some clergymen, monks, and laymen who were intimate friends of
the latter and caused them to say, 'We have heard the patriarch

605

AM 6238 Chronographia

speak to Podopagouros against the emperor.’ He sent these men to

439 the Patriarchate to cross-examine him. As the latter was denying
their charges, the emperor made them swear on the holy cross that
"We have heard this abuse from the patriarch.’ Thereupon he sent his
men to put the Patriarchate under seal, and the patriarch he ban-
ished first to Hiereiall” and then to Prinkipos.

" Cf.Nik. 81. > Cf. Nik. 82.1-83. 28, giving a fuller account of the Bulgarian
campaign, drawn from the same source.

‘ AD 765. According to V. Steph. iun. 1177D, the saint was martyred on
28 Nov., being then in his 53rd year. The same source states that his birth
occurred soon after the ordination of Germanus as patriarch of
Constantinople (11 Aug. 715), which would place his death in Nov. 767.
There can be little doubt that the chronology of Theoph. is here correct. Cf.
G. Huxley, GRBS 18 (1977), 97-108; M.-F. Rouan, TM 8 (1981), 421.
Rochow, Byzanz, 186-7, is misleading on this point.

* Modern Kayi§dag, 12 km. south-east of Kadikoy. See Janin, Grands
centres, 43 ff.

3 Manifestly wrong if he died in or near his 5 3rd year.

4 According to other sources on the army only. See Alexander,
Nicephorus, 13 n. 2.

5 aTe<feaviTriv avrl /.lovaxov tWioe yeve'aOcu. The meaning of OTe<j>aviTT]s
(not 'married’ as imagined by Gero, Constantine V, 130) is explained in a
marginal gloss to Anast.'s version (dB II, 288 app.): Stephanites clericalem
coronam in capite habens cum antea fuerit monachorum more graecorum
toto capite tonsus. Cf. I. Rochow, BS1 47 (1986), 26-7. Constantine had
become a monk following a quarrel with his superior, the metropolitan of
Perge (Pastillas?): Fischer, Catal. 290.

° AD 766. Note that ‘June’ is dB's emendation. The Greek MSS as well as
Anast. give ‘January’.

7 A popular form of the name Anchialos, as pointed out by N. Banescu,
BZ 26 (1926), 114.

8 St Stephen. This statement suggests that he had played a political role
by being implicated in what was certainly a serious conspiracy.

° i.e. 'Crabfoot'.

*° His seal in Zacos-Veglery, i/2, no. 1726.

"Kara Rov Brjarip, presumably the same Beser who appears under AM
6215, 6218 and 6233. For the formula cf. Winkelmann, Quellenstudien,
15 if., 214, who suggests, not quite convincingly to our mind, that it was
equivalent to a family name.

? 0 Kara tov TrarpLKiov Ifxipiov. 39 Kara tov Ma.piva.KTjv.

606

Chronographia AM @ 95

[am 6258, ad 765/6]

Constantine, 26th year

Abdelas, 12th year

Constantine, 5th year

Niketas, bishop of Constantinople (14 years), 1st year

In this year Abdelas Ibinalim died, the tower in which he was impris-
oned having collapsed on top of him.' As for the Caliph Abdelas, he
inflicted many evils on his Christian subjects, for he removed the
crosses from churches, forbade night vigils and instruction in their own
letters. The Arourites,” as they are called among the Arabs (this means
zealots), rebelled in the desert of Palmyra. The wickedness of those
men towards God's churches is evident inasmuch as they are infi-
dels; but the emperor of the Christians, perhaps by God's ineffable
judgement (as in the case of the maniac Ahab who was king of Israel),”?
manifested a fury much worse than that of the Arabs towards the
orthodox bishops, monks, and laymen, those in authority as well as
subjects that were in his dominion. Everywhere he rejected as being
useless, both in writing and orally, the intercession of the holy
Virgin, the Mother of God, and of all the saints, thanks to which all
manner of help wells forth for us. He suppressed and obliterated
their relics whenever it was said that those of some famous saint
were reposing for the good of spiritual and bodily health and, as
usual, were venerated by the faithful. Such men were straight away
threatened with death for being irreligious, as well as with confisca-
tion, banishment, and torture, while the God-pleasing relic, like the
treasure it was to its possessors, was removed and disappeared
thenceforth. This the unholy emperor did to the most precious relic
of the all-praised martyr Euphemia which he cast into the sea
together with its casket, for he could not suffer to behold her exud-
ing myrrh? in front of all the people and refuting his inanities
directed against the intercession of the saints. God, however, who
guards the bones of them that please Him (as Scripture saith)” pre-
served it intact and manifested it once again on the island of
Lemnos. By means of a nocturnal vision, He ordered it to be picked
up where it lay and guarded. Under the pious Constantine and Irene,
in the 4th indiction,* it returned with due honour to her church?
which he, like the enemy of churches that he was, had profaned by
turning it into an arms-store and a dungheap, while they cleansed it
and reconsecrated it so as to refute his godlessness and manifest
their own godly piety. Twenty-two years after the criminal's death I
myself saw this wonderful and memorable miracle in the company
of the most pious emperors and Tarasios the most holy patriarch

607

440

441

AM 6238 Chronographia

and, along with them, I kissed it, unworthy as I was to have been
granted so signal a grace.°

On 16 November of the same 5th indiction’ the eunuch Niketas,
a Slav,® was unlawfully ordained by the emperor's decree patriarch
of Constantinople. 11° There ensued a drought, such that even dew
did not fall from heaven and water entirely disappeared from the
City. Cisterns and baths were put out of commission; even those
springs that in former times had gushed continuously now failed. On
seeing this, the emperor set about restoring Valentinian's aqueduct,”
which had functioned until Herakleios and had been destroyed by
the Avars.’° He collected artisans from different places and brought
from Asia and Pontos 1,000 masons and 200 plasterers, from Hellas
and the islands 500 clay-workers,” and from Thrace itself 5,000
labourers and 200 brickmakers.’* He set taskmasters over them
including one of the patricians. When the work had thus been com-
pleted, water flowed into the City. nu!

In the same 5th indiction he appointed several strategoi who
shared his views and were suitable perpetrators of his wickedness,
namely Michael Melissenos in the thema of the Anatolics, Michael
Lachanodrakon’” in that of the Thrakesians, and Manes (homonym
of madness)" in that of the Bucellarii..° Who would be able to
recount their sacrilegious deeds, some of which we shall describe in
their proper places? For if one were to set down all the deeds they
committed to win the emperor's favour, it is fair to say with the
Gospel that the whole world would not contain the books that
should be written concerning them.®

" "Abdallah b. All was put to death on al-Manstir's orders by being con-
fined in a house whose foundations were made of blocks of salt. The salt was
dissolved by water, causing the house to collapse on top of him. This hap-
pened in AH 147 (764/5): Tabari, Williams, i. 188.

> Followers of ‘All: see AM 6152, n. 1. Their name does not mean ‘zealots’.
Cf. L. I. Conrad, ByzP 15 (1990), 40 ff.

3 Before they had been moved from Chalcedon to Constantinople, pre-
sumably at the time of the Persian invasion, the relics of St Euphemia were
famous for exuding blood. See Janin, Grands centres, 33.

4 AD 796.

> Next to the Hippodrome. See R. Naumann and H. Belting, Die
Euphemia-Kirche am Hippodrom zu Istanbul und ihre Fresken (Berlin,
1966).

° See Introduction, p. lix. The translation of the relics of St Euphemia
from Lemnos is described in a nearly contemporary opuscule by

608

Chronographia AM 62,05

Constantine bishop of Tios, ed. H. Halkin, Euphemie de Chalce-
doine = Subs. hag. 41 (1965), 84-106. Cf. our remarks in JTS 17 (1966),
485-8.

7 AD 766.

8 He had been chief presbyter of the church of the Holy Apostles, skeuo-
phylax of Chalkoprateia, ekdikos (defensor) of St Sophia, and supervisor of
monasteries: Fischer, Catal. 290. Cf. Nik. Chron. rrg. 18. Nik. 83. 30-1 mis-
takenly implies that he was ordained in August, indiction 4.

° Recte that of Valens. * In 626.

“Presumably to make water pipes.
Nik. adds that they were issued with supplies from public funds.

3 Several of his seals are preserved. See Winkelmann, Rangstruktur, 83.

“ The original text must have read Mdv-qv, tov ts fiavlas (instead of
KaKi'as) eTTaivv/zov, as confirmed by Anast. and indicated by dB.

°° This thema, split off from that of Opsikion, is here mentioned for the
first time.

fam 6259, ad 766/7]

Constantine, 27th year

Abdelas, 13 th year

Stephen, bishop of Rome (3 years), 1st year’
Niketas, 2nd year

IllIn this year, on 6 October, indiction 6,* the false patriarch
Constantine was brought from the island of Prinkipos and the tyrant
Constantine had him scourged to the point that he was unable to
walk. He ordered him to be carried in a cart and to go and sit in the
solea’ of the Great Church. He was accompanied by an a secretis
who held a volume of papyrus* wherein were written the charges
against him. When all the people of the City had been gathered there
by imperial order and were looking on, the document was read out
so everyone could hear it. And at every item the a secretis hit him in
the face, while the patriarch Niketas was sitting in the synthronon
and witnessing the scene. After this they brought him up on the
ambo and set him up straight: Niketas took the document, sent bish-
ops to remove Constantine's pallium,’ and anathematized him. And
after calling him Dark-face, they expelled him from the church fac-
ing backwards.

The next day, when chariot races were to be run, they shaved his
face, plucked his beard, the hair of his head, and of his eyebrows and,
after putting on him a short sleeveless garment of silk, seated him
backwards on a saddled ass and made him hold its tail; and so they
brought him into the Hippodrome by way of the Diippion, while all

609

442

443

AM 6259 Chionogiaphia

the people and the demes cursed him and spat on him. The ass was
led by his nephew Constantine whose nose had been cut off. When
he had come to the benches of the demes,° they came down, spat on
him, and kept throwing dust on him. Having brought him to the
stama, they threw him off his ass and trampled on his neck; and
after seating him opposite the benches of the demes, they made him
listen to derisory words until theendoftheraces. On the 15th of the
same month the emperor sent his patricians to him with this mes-
sage: 'What do you say concerning our faith and the synod we have
held?’ His mind made vain, he replied: 'You believe rightly and you
have held the synod rightly’, thinking that he would thereby win the
emperor's mercy once again. But they immediately replied: 'This is
just what we wanted to hear from your foul mouth. Henceforth
depart into the darkness and under anathema.’ Having thus received
the verdict, he was beheaded at the Kynegion. His head, tied by the
ears, was hung for three days at the Milion so the people could see
it; as for his body, they tied a cord to one foot and, after dragging it
along the Mese, threw it among the bodies of criminals in the quar-
ter of Pelagios.I \* Three days later they likewise threw his head in
the same place. Oh, the senselessness, the cruelty, and merciless-
ness of the wild beast! Did not the wretch feel any respect for the
holy font? For two of his children by his third wife’ did the patriarch
take in his arms after baptism. At all times, however, he was fero-
cious and savage in his manner.

From this time onwards he behaved with increased fury towards
the holy churches. He sent his men to remove the celebrated sty lite
Peter® from his rock and, since the latter did not yield to his doc-
trines, had him tied by the feet and ordered him, too, to be dragged
alive along the Mese and thrown in the ditch of Pelagios. Others he
tied up in sacks which he weighted with stones and commanded to
be cast in the sea, and he went on blinding, amputating noses,
scourging, and inventing every kind of torment for the pious. In the
City he perpetrated these things by himself and through those who
shared his views, namely Antony, patrician and domestic of the
Schools,’ the magistios Peter,’° and the men of the tagmata who
had been instructed by him, while in the provincial themata he did
so through the aforementioned strategoi. He himself delighted in
music and banquets and educated his courtiers by means of foul lan-
guage and dancing. And if anyone on falling down or being in pain
let out the usual Christian exclamation, ‘Mother of God, help me!’
or was convicted of attending night vigils or frequenting churches or
living in piety without constantly using oaths, he was punished as
an enemy of the emperor and was called an 'unmentionable’.” As

610

Chronographia AM 62,05

for monasteries built to the glory of God and as a refuge to those
seeking salvation, he turned them into common barracks for the sol-
diers who shared his opinions. Thus he converted into a soldiers’
dwelling the foremost koinobion of Byzantium, that of Dalmatos,
while those named after Kallistratos, Dios, and Maximinus as well
as other holy habitations of monks and virgins he completely demol-
ished.” Such men who had been prominent in government service
or in office and had taken up the monastic life, especially those close
to him who had been initiated into his unspeakable indecencies, he
condemned to death, taking thought of the shame that would accrue
to him from their confessions. For this reason, after he had
befriended Strategios, the (brother) of Podopagouros, who was of
attractive appearance (for he liked to have such intimates for the
sake of his lewdness), but becoming aware that this man was
repelled by his illicit homosexuality and was confessing it to the
blessed Stephen (the hermit of St Auxentios) and receiving salutary
treatment, he branded him as a traitor and killed him along with the
hermit as has been said above.

llHe also at this time made commodities cheap in the City. For,
like a new Midas,”* he stored away the gold and denuded the peas-
ants who, because of the exaction of taxes, were forced to sell God's
bounty at a low price.I\°

IllIn the same year the false patriarch Niketas scraped off the
images in the small secretum of the Patriarchate, which were of
mosaic, and those in the vault of the big secretum, which were in
paint, he removed and plastered the faces of the other images. n°* He
did the same in the Abramiaion.”

" Stephen IV (768-72).

> AD 767.

3 Here spelled aoXala, elsewhere au>Xala, a fenced passage leading from
the ambo to the chancel screen. See Reiske's note to Cer. ii. 102-3; Ebersolt,
Sainte-Sophie, 9.

4 TO/XOV ‘aprou.

> Which suggests that he had not been deposed from his episcopal office.

> iv to is Sr/iAois.

7 Constantine's third wife was called Eudokia, by whom he had five sons
and at least one daughter (Anthousa). The identity of the two children men-
tioned here is uncertain because we do not know the dates of birth of the
two eldest sons, Christopher and Nikephoros, mentioned in AM 6260. In
AnBoll 100 (1982), 407 f., we suggested that Theoph. refers here to Anthousa
and her twin brother, who may have been either Christopher or Nikephoros.

® Possibly the same as Peter of Blachernai, mentioned in Syn. CP (see AM

611

444

AM 62,56 Chronogiaphia

6253, n. 6) and V. Steph. iun. 1165C-D, but without any indication that he
was a stylite. The confusion regarding the alleged victims of iconoclastic
persecution is worthy of notice. Cf. M.-F. Auzepy, 'De Philarete, de sa
famille et de certains monasteres de Constantinople’, in M. Kaplan, ed., Le
Saint et son sanctuaiie (Paris, 1993), 130 ff.

° First mention of this important military command. See Bury, Adm.
System, 50.

© His seals in Zacos-Veglery, 1/2, nos. 2304-5. See also AM 6282.
apLvqpLovevTos, an epithet applied by Constantine especially to monks,
more correctly to be rendered as ‘undeserving of commemoration’
[f,vr)f,ovevu> = mention in prayer). Cf. Alexander, Nicephorus, 13 and n. 2.

”® Nik. Antinh. Ill, PG TOO: 493D, names the monasteries of Florus and
Kallistratos; cf. Refutatio et eveisio, cod. Paris, gr. 1250, fo. 195. On the
monastery of Maximinus see Janin, Eglises, 323. Its situation is unknown.
In V. Steph. iun. 1180 the monastery of Dios is represented as functioning

normally at the time of the saint's death (765).
B

For the comparison with Midas, which occurs both in Nik.'s
Bzeviaiium and his Antirrh. Ill, PG 100: 513D, see Alexander, Nicephorus,
159-61. In the Breviarium Nik. adds that wheat sold at 60 modii to the
solidus and barley at 70 modii-, in the Antirrh. that some farmers were
forced to sell all their holdings for 1 solidus, whilst others hanged them-
selves from trees.

‘4 Nik. adds that Niketas carried out structural repairs to Hagia Sophia in
indiction 7 (768/9), in the course of which he scraped off images of Christ
and the saints. The big and small secreta correspond to the rooms at the
south-west corner of the church at gallery level, where evidence of icono-
clastic activity can still be seen. Cf. Mango, Brazen House, 5 3; R. Cormack
and E. J. W. Hawkins, DOP 31 (1977), 200f., 205 ff.

‘° Presumably the monastery of St Abramios, which was probably differ-
ent from that of the Abramites. The discussion by Janin, Eglises, 4-6, is
rather confused.

[am 6260, ad 767/8]

Constantine, 28 th year
Abdelas, 14th year
Stephen, 2nd year
Niketas, 3rd year

Illn this year the thrice-married emperor crowned his wife Eudokia
as his third Augusta in the Tribunal of the Nineteen Couches on 1
April of the 7th indiction, a Saturday;’ and the two sons he had by
her, Christopher and Nikephoros, he appointed Caesars in the same
Tribunal on the next day, which was 2 April and Easter Sunday. The
prayer was recited by the patriarch and the emperor himself invested
them with their mantles and their Caesars’ crowns. He likewise

612

Chionogiaphia AM 62,71

placed a golden mantle and a crown upon their youngest brother
Niketas* whom he appointed nobilissimus. The emperors then
processed as far as the Great Church scattering largess in the form of
newly-minted tremisses, semisses*? and nomismata. Il

» Cf. Nik. 87.

* AD 769.

* The youngest brother was actually Anthimos, born in 768/9, that is that
same year: Nik. 86. 1-2. Cf. C. Mango and I. Sevcenko, BZ 6s (1972), 391.
The ceremony of 2 Apr. 769 is described in Cer. I. cc. 43-4, as shown by C.
Diehl, Etudes byzantines (Paris, 1905), 296-302.

3 These must have been ceremonial issues. Fractional gold is extremely
rare after Leo III. Only one specimen is known of Constantine V alone and
one of Constantine and Leo IV: Grierson, Catal. DO iii/i. 22.

[AM 6261, AD 768/9]

Constantine, 29 th year
Abdelas, 15 th year
Stephen, 3rd year
Niketas, 4th year

In this year an exchange of prisoners took place in Syria, a man for a
man and a woman for a woman and a child likewise for a child. Abdelas
ordered that the men's beards should be shaved' and that they should
wear hats one and a half cubits high. All summer Abdelas besieged
Kamachon? with 80,000 men, but he did not achieve any success and
returned in shame.

1On 1 November of the 8th indiction’® Irene made her entrance
from Athens. She came to the Imperial City from Hiereia, escorted
by many dromones and chelandia decorated with silken cloths, and
was met by the prominent men of the City and their wives who led
the way before her. On the 3rd of the same month of November the
patriarch went to the church of the Pharos in the palace* and the
betrothal of the emperor Leo to the same Irene was celebrated. On
17 December Irene was crowned empress in the hall of the
Augusteus.> She proceeded to the chapel of St Stephen in the
Daphne and received the marital crown along with Constantine's
son Leo.1°

“ Cf. Nik. 88.

" Literally 'their beards’. Since this cannot apply to women and children,
it would appear that male Christian captives are meant.

613

445

AM 6238 Chronographia

* The siege of Kamachon is described by Ps.-Dion. Chron. 73 f., who dates
it AG 1078 (766/7). Same date in Baladhuri, Brooks, 87 f., Tabari, Williams, i.
205 (without any details). The Arab commander was not the Caliph, but his
brother, al-'Abbas b. Muhammad.

> AD 769.

4 This is the earliest mention of the chapel of Our Lady of the Pharos,
which was to become the principal palatine chapel. Cf. R. J. H. Jenkins and
C. Mango, DOP 9/10 (1956], 134 ff.

> The ceremony is described in Cer. 1, c. 4r.

[am 6262, ad 769/70]

Constantine, 30th year

Abdelas, 16th year

Adrian, bishop of Rome (27 years), 1st year’
Niketas, 5thyear

In this year Banakas* invaded the Roman country and made many cap-
tives. The Romans overran the Fourth Armenia and devastated it.
Salech® died and the inhabitants of Germanikeia were transferred to
Palestine.’

In the same year Lachanodrakon emulated his preceptor by gath-
ering at Ephesos all the monks and nuns who were in the Thrakesian
thema. He led them out to a plain called Tzoukanisterin° and said to
them: 'Whoever wishes to obey the emperor as well as us, let him
put on a white garment and take a wife forthwith. Those who do not
do so will be blinded and banished to Cyprus.'° No sooner said than
done, so that many proved to be martyrs on that day, while many
others broke ranks and were damned; these the Dragon befriended.

In the same g th indiction, on 14 January’ a son was born to the
emperor Leo and to Irene and was named Constantine® while his
grandfather Constantine was still alive.

* In fact, Adrian I ruled from 1 Feb. 772 to 25 Dec. 795.

* Presumably Abd al-Wahhab, nephew of al-Mansur. He led the summer
expedition in AH 151 (768/9): Tabari, Williams, i. 216. He did so again the
next year, but did not enter Byzantine territory: ibid. 218. The expedition of
AH 153 (770), which resulted in the capture of Laodikeia Combusta, was led
by Ma'yuf b. Yahya al-Hadjuri: ibid. 220.

3 Salih b. All, who died in 768 or 769.

* Mich. Syr. ii. 526, AG 1080, reports that the inhabitants of Germanikeia
(Mar'as) on suspicion of being Roman spies were removed to Ramlah.

> The polo-ground, like the better-known one in the Palace of
Constantinople.

° The banishment of monks to Cyprus is mentioned in the Georgian V.

614

Chronographia AM 62,05

Romani, trans. P. Peeters, AnBoll 30 (1911), 419. On the misdeeds of
Lachanodrakon see V. Steph. iun. 1165A-B.

7 AD 771.

8 i.e. at his baptism. Seeing that Constantine V lived on for another four
years, the indication that he was still alive at this time is puzzling.

fam 6263, ad 770/71]

Constantine, 31st year
Abdelas, 17th year
Adrian, 2nd year
Niketas, 6th year

In this year Banakas invaded the Roman country and, after moving
down from Isauria, laid siege to the fort Syke.’ When the emperor
had heard of this, he wrote to Michael, strategos of the Anatolics,
Manes, strategos of the Bucellarii, and Bardas,’ strategos of the
Armeniacs. These men arrived and occupied the Arabs’ exit, which
was a very difficult mountain pass. Meanwhile the fleet of the
Kibyraiots under their strategos the spatharios Petronas cast anchor
in the harbour of the fort. On seeing this and losing all hope, Banakas
encouraged and roused his men. He marched up to the cavalry the-
mata and, with a great shout, routed them. He killed many of them
and, after devastating all the surrounding country, returned home
with much booty.?

In the same year Michael Lachanodrakon, strategos of the
Thrakesians, sent out his notary Leo surnamed Kouloukes and Leo
Koutzodaktylos, a former monk, and sold off all the male and female
monasteries, all their holy vessels, books,* and animals, and all their
other possessions and paid their value to the emperor. Whatever
books he found containing stories of monks and fathers of the desert
he burnt. And whenever it appeared that anyone had a saint's relic
as a phylactery, this, too, was consigned to the fire, while its posses-
sor was punished for impiety. Many monks he killed by scourging,
some by the sword, and a numberless multitude he blinded. In the
case of some he smeared their chins with liquid wax and set fire to
them so that their faces and heads were burnt, while others he sub-
jected to many torments and then exiled. All in all, he did not leave
in the whole thema that was under his authority a single man wear-
ing the monastic habit. When the wicked emperor had heard of this,
he wrote him a letter of thanks, saying: 'I have found in you a man
after my own heart who carries out all my wishes.'* The others, too,
emulated him and committed similar deeds.

615

AM6238 Chronographia

" Cf. 1 Kgs. (Sam.) 2: 35, 13: 14. Ps.-Dion. 91, 100, applies the same text to'Abdallah
and Musa b. Mus'ab, governor of Mosul.

* Now Softa Kalesi, 15 km. east of Anemourion: Ramsay, Geogr. 381; TIB
5/1: 421-3.

* So in Anast. 294. 25,- Bardanes in the Greek MSS.

3 There is no clear reference to this engagement in the Arabic sources. It
can hardly refer to the campaign of AH 153 (770) when Ma’'yuf b. Yahya'sur-
prised' a fortress and then went on to capture Laodikeia Combusta (Tabari,
Williams, i. 220), the latter being nowhere near Syke.

* dB suggests emending/3i/3At a to /3>jAa, ‘curtains’.

[am 6264, ad 771/2]

Constantine, 32nd year
Abdelas, 18th year
Adrian, 3rd year
Niketas, 7th year

In this year Abdelas sent Moualabitos to Africa at the head of a numer-
ous army.’ Alfadal Badinar? invaded the Roman country and took 500
prisoners, but the inhabitants of Mopsuestia encountered them in bat-
tle and killed 1,000 Arabs. Abdelas went to Jerusalem for his fast? and
ordered that Christians and Jews should be marked on their hands.*
Many Christians fled to the Roman country by sea. Sergius Kourikos
was apprehended outside Syke and Lacherbaphos, who was the rep-
resentative of the local community, in Cyprus.

" The reference is to Yazid b. Hatim ofthe al-Muhallab family, who was
sent to Africa in AH 154 (770/1) to suppress a Berber revolt: Tabari, Williams,
i. 221; Ibn al-Athir, ibid. 244. Cf. also Mich.-Syr. ii. 526.

* Presumably al-Fadl b. Dinar. This incident is not recorded elsewhere.
Furthermore, Mopsuestia was certainly in Muslim hands at the time,
although part of its population may have been Christian. Cf. TIB 5/1: 353.

3 Cf. Ps.-Dion. Chron. 108; Tabari, Williams, i. 221, AH 154 (770/1).

4 Cf. Ps.-Dion. Chron. 104-5, '*3-4.

[am 626s, ad 772/3]

Constantine, 33rd year
Abdelas, 19th year
Adrian, 4th year
Niketas, 8th year

In this year, in the month of May, indiction 12,’ Constantine dis-
patched a fleet of 2,000 chelandia against Bulgaria. He himself

616

Chronographia AM 62,05

embarked in the red chelandia’ and set out with the intention of
entering the river Danube, leaving the strategoi of the cavalry the-
mata outside the mountain passes in the hope that they might pen-
etrate into Bulgaria while the Bulgarians were occupied with him.
When, however, he had gone as far as Varna, he took fright and was
considering a retreat. The Bulgarians, too, were frightened when
they saw these things and sent a boyar and a Tzigatos’ to ask for
peace. On beholding them, the emperor was overjoyed and made
peace. They swore to one another that neither would the Bulgarians
go forth against the Roman country nor would the emperor contrive
to penetrate into Bulgaria, and they mutually drew up written
instruments to that effect. The emperor returned to the City after
leaving garrisons from all the themata in the forts he had built.*

In the month of October of the nth indiction® the emperor
received a dispatch from his secret friends in Bulgaria to the effect
that the lord of Bulgaria was sending an army of 12,000 and a num-
ber of boyars in order to capture Berzitia® and transfer its inhabitants
to Bulgaria. So as not to make it known that he was setting out
against Bulgaria (seeing that emissaries of the lord of Bulgaria had
come to him and were still in the City), he pretended to be under-
taking an expedition against the Arabs and sent the standards and
the imperial retinue across the Bosporus. When he had dismissed the
emissaries and been informed by his spies of their departure, he
raised his army and set out in all haste. He gathered the soldiers of
the themata and the Thrakesians and joined the Optimati to the tag-
mata to a total of 80,000. He marched to a place called Lithosoria’
and, without sounding the bugles, fell upon the Bulgarians, whom he
routed in a great victory. He returned with much booty and many
captives and celebrated a triumph in the City, which he entered with
due ceremony. He called this war a ‘noble war’ inasmuch as he had
met with no resistance and there had been no slaughter or shedding
of Christian blood.

* AD 774, but see below, Oct. indiction rr and AM 6266, n. 2. The date is
discussed, amongst others, by G. Ostrogorsky, BNJ 7 (1930) 50° Zlatarski,
i/r. 300 n. 3.

> Cf. DAI 51.9, 49, 63. Until the reign of Leo VI there was no fiaoiXiKov
Spofj.u)vwv, only a povaiov dypdpi.ov. The imperial barge was painted red or
black.

3 Meaning unclear. Bury, ERE ii. 474 n. 3, connects it with Caucasian
djigit = ‘warrior’. No such title occurs, however, in the Protobulgarian
inscriptions: Zlatarski, i/r. 299 n. 2; Besevliev, Protobulg. Inschr. 47, who
considers it equivalent to spatharios.

4 The construction is unclear Iraiarovs a<f>els in navroov tu>v Bep-driov kal

617

447

AM 6265 Chronographia

els Ta KaaTpa a-rrep eKTtoev). We have translated omitting the /eu as did
Anast. (taxatis derelictis ex omnibus thematibus in castris, quae condidit).
> 12th in MS d (Paris, gr. 1710), but that would correspond to Oct. 773,

whereas one would expect 774 if the initial date of May 774 is correct.

° The Beprjrai were a Slavonic tribe living in Macedonia according to
Zlatarski, i/i. 302; in Thessaly according to Vasmer, Slaven, 85 f. Cf. below,
AM 6291.

7 Unidentified: Zlatarski, i/i. 304 n. 7; C. Mango and I. Sevcenko, BZ 65

(1972), 386.

[am 6266, ad 773/4]

Constantine, 34th year
Abdelas, 20th year
Adrian, 5th year
Niketas, 9 th year

In this year 280 heads’ were brought from Africa and paraded in Syria.

The emperor, who had already broken the peace with the Bulgars,
once again fitted out a great fleet.* He embarked in it 12,000 cavalry
and sent along all the naval strategoi. He himself took fright and
remained with the cavalry. When they had reached Mesembria, a
strong wind blew. Nearly all the ships were smashed and many men
perished. So he returned empty-handed. Now Telerigos, the lord of
Bulgaria, having ascertained that the emperor was being informed of
his plans by his own friends, wrote to him saying: ‘It is my intention
to escape and come to you. Send me a promise of personal immunity
and the names of your friends here that I may put my trust in them
and that they may help me.’ Naively, the emperor wrote those
things to him and the latter, on beinginformed, killed the lot.» When
Constantine had heard of this, he plucked for a long time his grey
hairs.

" Presumably of executed Berber rebels. Their defeat by Yazid b. Hatim
occurred in 772 (Ibn al-Athir apud Tabari, Williams, i. 244), which suggests
that the exhibition of the heads took place earlier than indicated here.

* The sequence of events is problematic. If the naval expedition of AM
6265 is correctly dated to May 774, we should now be in 775, yet the latter
year corresponds to AM 6267. Hence we either have here a doublet of the
expedition of 6265 or the latter should be redated to May 773 (ind. 11). It is
at this point that the correct correspondence between AM and indiction is re-
established.

3 eKovpaae -navTas, rendered by Anast. as per medium omnes recidit. For
the meaning ‘to kill’ cf. V. Ioann. Gotth. 191C: SeKaevTa Se SouAovs o
Xayavos eKovpao€v avairious, and 193B: Kovpacdrjvai vit avrov opioQivruty,

618

Chionogiaphia AM 62,71

with the comment of I. Sevcenko, 'Hagiography of the Iconoclast Period’, in
Ideology, Letters and Culture in the Byzantine World (London, 1982), ch. V,
n. 14, who translates ‘torture, kill by torture’. Cf. Koupa*u> = defatigare (as
in modern Greek): Du Cange, Gloss, s.v.

[am 6267, ad 774/5]

Constantine, 35 th year
Abdelas, 21st year
Adrian, 6th year
Niketas, 10 th year

In this year, in the month of August of the 13th indiction,’ the
emperor Constantine set out against the Bulgarians. God, however,
struck him down: he became sorely afflicted with carbuncles on his
legs and was, on account of the extreme inflammation, seized by a
violent fever of a kind unknown to physicians. He returned to
Arkadioupolis, borne on the shoulders of his subjects in a litter.
Having come to Selymbria, he took ship and, on 14 September of the
14th indiction, when he had reached the Round Castle,” he miser-
ably died on board his chelandion as he was crying out, 'I have been
delivered to the unquenchable fire while still alive!’; and he
demanded that hymns be sung to the holy Virgin, the Mother of
God,’ whose implacable enemy he had been. He had reigned as sole
emperor after his father's death 34 years, 2 months, and 26 days.*
Thus he ended his life, polluted as he was with much Christian
blood, with the invocation of demons to whom he sacrificed, with
the persecution of the holy churches and of the true and immaculate
faith, furthermore with the slaying of monks and the profanation of
monasteries: in all manner of evil he had reached a pinnacle no less
than Diocletian and the ancient tyrants. In the same month Abdelas,
the ruler of the Arabs, also died.° Thus the two wild beasts who had
for a long time simultaneously devoured the human race died by
God's providence, and heir respective sons, Leo and Madi, acceded to
power.

In the same year, too, Theodotos, king of the Lombards, came to
the Imperial City and sought refuge with the emperor.°

* AD 775.
* Also called Kyklobion, near the Hebdomon.

3 Kedr. ii. 18 (likewise Ps.-Symeon in cod. Paris, gr. 1712: see
R. Browning, Byz 35 (1965), 409) puts in Constantine's mouth the following
extra tirade, which leads to a sequel: ' "Farewell, great church of St Sophia!
Farewell, church of the all-holy Theotokos at Blachernai! Farewell, church

619

AM 6238 Chronographia

of the Theotokos at Chalkoprateia! Farewell, church of the holy Apostles!
Farewell, City and Senate! Farewell, my son the emperor! Farewell, you too,
Theophanes (who hold?) my great secret!" After the (period of) mourning
had passed, the emperor [Leo IV] said to Theophanes: "What is my father's
great secret, which you alone know?" He replied: "Perhaps your father
changed his mind, and that is why he spoke to me, that I should reveal what
we have done in secret. For we buried in a certain place 500 centenaria [of
gold] on account of your brothers, the Caesars and nobilissimi." Leo sent [an
emissary] and took all of it, leaving nothing for them.’ For this passage and
a further addition in Kedr. (below, AM 6272), see W. Treadgold, JOB 34
(1984), 69-76, who argues that they are derived from a lost Life of
Theophanes the cubicularius.

4 From 18 June 741.

> Actually the following month, on 21 Oct. 775: Tabarl, Williams, i. 237;
Elias Nis. 86 (AH 158). According to Mich. Syr. ii. 527, he died 25 days after
Constantine, the latter's death being wrongly placed on 19 Sept.

° The person in question was Adelgis, son of Desiderius (75 6-74), the last
Lombard king of Pavia. He was given the name Theodotos and the title of
patrician at Constantinople. Cf. AM 6281 and Speck, Konstantin VI, 96 ff.

am 6268 [ad 775/6]

Year of the divine Incarnation 768

Leo, emperor of the Romans (5 years), 1st year

Madi, leader of the Arabs (9 years) 1st year

Adrian, bishop of Rome (27 years), 7th year

Niketas, bishop of Constantinople (14 years), nth year

In this year Madi sent Abasbali' at the head of a great force against the
Roman country. With the help of smoke he opened the cave called
Kasin? and, after capturing the men who were in it, returned home.
The emperor Leo started to lay his hands on the moneys that had
been left to him by his father and won favour with the people and the
notables.’ For a short time he appeared to be pious and a friend of the
holy Mother of God and of the monks; for which reason he appointed
from among monks metropolitans of the foremost sees. He raised
numerous contingents in each thema and increased the tagmata. As
a result, all the commanders of the themata set out and entered
Constantinople with a great throng of men to request that his son
Constantine should be made emperor. He, on his part, replied
according to imperial custom: 'My son is an only child and I am
afraid of doing so lest I suffer the fate of all men and, while he is an
infant, you put him to death and appoint another.’ They testified
under oath assuring him that they would not be ruled by anyone
other than his son if God wanted him to die. From Palm Sunday

620

Chronographia AM 62,05

until Holy Thursday the people importuned him and gathered in the
Hippodrome to make this request, and on Holy Friday he ordered
them to take the oath. So all the people, namely those of the the-
mata, the members of the Senate, the City tagmata, and all the cit-
izens and artisans, swore on the holy and life-giving Cross not to
accept an emperor other than Leo and Constantine and their descen-
dants, and they set down their oath in signed documents.

The next day, which was Holy Saturday, the emperor went to the
Tribunal of the Nineteen Couches and appointed his brother
Eudokimos nobilissimus-, for Anthimos had been appointed in his
father's lifetime. The emperor, together with the two Caesars, and
three nobilissimi and the young Constantine, processed to the Great
Church and, after changing the altar-cloth according to imperial cus-
tom,* he mounted the ambo with his son and the patriarch. All the
people entered the church and deposited their written declarations
on the holy table. The emperor addressed them as follows: 'Behold,
brethren, I am fulfilling your request and granting you my son as
emperor. Behold, you are receiving him from the Church and from
Christ's hand.' They cried out in a loud voice, saying: 'Be our surety,
O Son of God, that we are receiving the lord Constantine as our
emperor from Thy hand that we may guard him and die for his
sake!

The next day which was Easter Sunday, (24 April), indiction 14,°
the emperor went to the Hippodrome at daybreak together with the
patriarch. A portable altar® having been brought, the patriarch
recited the prayer in the presence of all the people and the emperor
crowned his son. Then the two emperors processed to the Great
Church together with the two Caesars and the three nobilissimi.
After the emperors had gone forth, the empress Irene also processed,
escorted by the sceptres,’ by way of the Scholai and ascended the
staircase of the Chalke to the gallery of the church without appear-
ing in the colonnaded Mese.*

In the month of May of the same indiction the emperor's brother
the Caesar Nikephoros was denounced to the emperor for plotting
against him together with certain spathaiii, stratores, and other
men in imperial service. The emperor convened a silentium at the
Magnaura and referred to the people the reports concerning him.
They cried out with one voice that all of them? should be removed
from their midst, forgetting (perjurors that they always were) the
oath they had sworn to their father, namely that they would not suf-
fer after his death that his children should be injured. The emperor
had the conspirators scourged and tonsured and banished them to
Cherson and the Klimata’® under secure guard.

621

450

451

AM 6238 Chronographia

* Presumably ‘Abbas b. ‘All (recte Al-Abbas b. Muhammad, brother of al-
Mansur). According to Tabari, he advanced as far as Ancyra and took an
unnamed city along with 'the grottoes': Tabari, Williams, ii. 59, AH 159
(775/6); Brooks, 'Abbasids', 735. Cf. Agapios, 287, 2nd year of Al-Mahdl

* In Cappadocia, possibly near Sasima, according to TIB 2: 273.

3 Read rovs iv reXei instead of rovs iv au -rroXet, as conjectured by dB and
confirmed by Vita Irenes, p.7, c. 2.

4 The altar-cloth (ivSvrri) was traditionally changed on Holy Saturday.
See Cel. p. 34 and Reiske's note, ii. 141.

> The 24th, which dB added from Anast., is incorrect, since Easter day of
776 fell on the 14th.

e avTifdaaiov (antemensa), on which see Reiske's note, Cer. ii. 164; i. M.
Izzo, The Antimension in the Liturgical and Canonical Tradition of the
Byzantine and Latin Churches (Rome, 1975); ODB, s.v.

7 Cf. Cer. 575 and Reiske's note, ii. 667-8, who believes they were cru-
ciform.

8 i.e. she followed a raised passage that led directly to the east end of the
south gallery of Hagia Sophia. See our remarks in The Brazen House, 87 ff.
° We take ap.<f-oT£povs in the sense of ‘all of them’ rather than ‘both’.

[am 6269, ad 776/7]

Leo, 2nd year
Madi, 2nd year
Adrian, 8th year
Niketas, 12th year

In this year Thoumamas, son of Baka,' invaded the Roman country and
returned after taking captives.

Telerigos, lord of the Bulgarians, sought refuge with the emperor,
who made him patrician and joined him in marriage to a cousin of
his wife Irene. After he had been baptized, the emperor took him up
from the holy font and bestowed upon him much honour and affec-
tion.’

' Recte Thumama b. Al-Walldb. alQa'ga'al Absl: Tabari, Williams, ii. 73,
AH 160 (776/7); Brooks, Abbasids’, 735.

* See Zlatarski, i/i. 310-11. His seal, with the title of patrician, his name
spelled TeXepvy in Zacos-Veglery, i/3, no. 3188.

[am 6270, ad 777/8]

Leo, 3rd year
Madi, 3rd year

622

Chionogiaphia AM 62,71

Adrian, 9 th year
Niketas, 13 th year

In this year Thoumamas established himself at Dabekon and raised a
rebellion. '

The emperor Leo mobilized the Roman army: 100,000 men
invaded Syria under the command of Michael Lachanodrakon of the
Thrakesians, the Armenian Artabasdos” of the Anatolics, Tatzates?
of the Bucellarii, Karisterotzes* of the Armeniacs, and Gregory, son
of Mousoulakios,*’ of the Opsikians; and they surrounded German-
ikeia. Isbaali,° Madi's uncle, was there, and they took all his camels
and were about to take Germanikeia itself, had not Isbaali prevailed
upon Lachanodrakon by means of gifts to draw away from the forti-
fied town; he went forth to devastate the countryside and, after
capturing the heretical Syrian Jacobites, returned to the fort. Thou-
mamas sent an army and a number of emirs from Dabekon and made
war on the Romans. It is said that five emirs and 2,000 Arabs’ fell.
They withdrew on a Friday, having come on a Sunday.®

The emperor distributed rewards? at Sophianai. He sat on a throne
together with his son and the stiategoi were given a triumph for
their victory. He conveyed the Syrian heretics to Thrace and settled
them there.”°

" No rebellion on his part is attested or likely. One may suspect that the
word iaraaiaaev is either corrupt or due to a misunderstanding.

* Artavazd Mamikonian. Cf. A. Adontz, Byz 9 (1934), 242L

3 Armenian Tacat, a member of the Andzevatsi family.

4 Recte Baristerotzes (Varaz-Tirots).

> Diminutive of the Armenian name Musel.

° "Isa b. All. According to Tabari, he was keeping watch at Germanikeia.

7 6,000 in Anast.

8 For these events see Tabari, Williams, ii. 82 f., AH 161 (777/8); Brooks,
‘Abbasids’, 735; Baladhuri, Brooks, 89f.; Lewond, i4of., c. 37.

° voirjaas j.iai'ovf-iav. The Maiouma was originally a Syrian feast that was
repeatedly banned for its indecency [CTh xv. 16. 2). See C.H. Kraeling,
Geiasa, City of the Decapolis (New Haven, 1938), 470-1, inscription no.
279; L. Robert, REG 49 (1936), 9-14. Lydus, De mensibus, ed. Wunsch, 132,
associates it with Rome. For the sense of 'bonus' see Cei. 451. 10, 17,- Scr.
inc. 337. 2 with I. Rochow, Klio 69 (1987), 568 ff. According to Leo gramm.
191, it was customary to receive spoils of war at Sophianai.

fam 6271, ad 778/9]

Leo, 4th year
Madi, 4th year

452

AM 6238 Chronographia

Adrian, 10th year
Niketas, 14th year

In this year Madi, the leader of the Arabs, waxed angry and sent
Asan’ with a great force of Maurophoroi, Syrians, and Mesopot-
amians and they advanced as far as Dorylaion. The emperor ordered
the strategoi not to fight an open war, but to make the forts secure
by stationing garrisons of soldiers in them. He appointed high-rank-
ing officers at each fort and instructed them to take each 3,000 cho-
sen men and to follow the Arabs so as to prevent them from
spreading out on pillaging raids, while burning in advance the
horses’ pasture and whatever other supplies were to be found. After
the Arabs had remained fifteen days at Dorylaion, they ran short of
necessities and their horses went hungry and many of them per-
ished. Turning back, they besieged Amorion for one day, but finding
it fortified and well-armed, they withdrew without achieving any
success.”

* Hasan b. Qahtaba.

* Cf. the account of Tabari, Williams, ii. 90 AH 162 (778/9); Brooks,
‘Abbasids’, 735-6; Baladhuri, Brooks, 85, 90; Elias Nis. 87. Lewond, 141-2,
c. 38, mentions Al-Abbas as commander and has him blockade Amorion for
three months.

[lam 6272, ad 779/80]

Leo, 5 th year

Madi, 5 th year

Adrian, nth year

Paul, bishop of Constantinople (5 years), 1st year

Il In this year Madi, the leader of the Arabs, came to Dabekon with a
great armed force and sent his son Aaron against the Roman country,
while he himself returned to the Holy City.II? He sent out Mouchesias
surnamed the Zealot' and gave him authority to convert the slaves of
Christians and to ruin the holy churches. This man came as far as Emesa
and announced that he would not oblige anyone except former infidels
to become Muslim, anticipating the Jews and Christiansto make them-
selves known.” Then straight away he began torturing them in a god-
less manner, worse than Lysias and Agrikolaos® of olden time, and
many ofthem he destroyed. By the grace of Christ our God his fury was
vanquished by some women who were, furthermore, newly baptized,’
namely the wives of the archdeacon of Emesa and of the son of Esaias.
These endured many torments, but did not yield to impiety; for each of

624

Chionogiaphia AM 62,71

them received a thousand lashes and was subjected to many other tor-
tures and so obtained from Christ the crown of victory. The man in
question went as far as Damascus and ruined many churches paying no
heed to the promise that had been given to Christians by the Arabs.

On 6 February of the 3rd indiction,’ the Sunday of Tyrophagy
week,° died the Slav eunuch Niketas, the patriarch of
Constantinople. On the second Sunday of Lent’ the venerable Paul
who was a lector, a Cypriot by origin,’ a man who excelled both in
culture and in action, was under much duress ordained patriarch of
Constantinople, after he had strenuously excused himself on
account of the prevailing heresy.

In the mid-week of Lent? James, who was piotospathaiios and
papias, Strategios and Theophanes, who were cubiculaiii and
parakoimomenoi, Leo and Thomas, who were likewise cubiculaiii,
were arrested along with other pious men for worshipping holy
icons. Baring at that moment his hidden wickedness, Leo, the perse-
cutor's son, had them scourged and tonsured and, after parading
them in chains through the Mese, confined them in the Praetorium.
Whereupon the said Theophanes died, thus becoming a confessor
and winning the crown of martyrdom. All the others after his death
became exemplary monks.

Aaron, after invading the Armeniac thema, besieged all summer
the fort Semalouos” and in the month of September he took it by
capitulation. He had previously sent Thoumamas to Asia with
50,000 men. A small raiding party of his was met by Michael
Lachanodrakon, who gave battle and killed the brother of
Thoumamas.

On 8 September of the 4th indiction Constantine's son Leo died in
the following manner. Being inordinately addicted to precious stones,
he became enamoured of the crown of the Great Church,” which he
took and wore on his head. His head developed carbuncles and, seized
by a violent fever, he died after a reign of 5 years less 6 days.

° Cf. Mich. Syr. iii. I, Elias Nis. 87 (AH 163 - 779/80); Tabari, Williams, ii. 92 ff.

" According to P. Peeters, AnBoll 58 (1940), 104-9, be is to be identified
with Hasan b. Qahtaba, the epithet Mouchesias (Muchthesias in Anast.)
being derived from Syr. Methtasigan (‘bathed’ or 'washed') and at-tannin
(‘the serpent’, Hasan's nickname) misunderstood as tanana= “IJACUITP.
There is no Syriac source for this incident.

* Cf. H. Pognon, Inscriptions semitiques de la Syrie (Paris, 1907), no. 84:
‘En l'an 1091 le Commandeur des croyants Mahdi vint et penetra jusqu'au
Djihan (the Pyramos], puis il revint et ordonna que les eglises fussent detru-
ites et que les gens de la tribu de Tannoukh devinssent musulmans.'

625

453

454

AM 6272 Chron ographia

3 Mythical persecutors of the time of Diocletian (or Trajan or Licinius)
who appear in various Passions of martyrs. See Index to Syn. CP; PLRE i.
523, Lysias.

* vovpiTiooai (an hapax), a retroversion via Syriac or Arabic of
veorf>d)TioTOL, according to Peeters, loc. cit.

> AD 78o. ° The week preceding Lent.

7 20 Feb.; 23 Feb. in Fischer, Catal. 290.

8 A native of Salamis according to V. Taras. 397. 19; Syn. Vetus, c. 150.
I3-

° Kedr. ii. 19-20, gives a different version: 'In the mid-week of Lent he
[Leo IV] found under [literally 'in'] the pillow of his wife Irene two icons.
Having beheld them and made an investigation, he discovered that the
papias of the palace and some others of the primicerii had brought them. He
subjected them to many tortures and punishments. As for his wife Irene, he
rebuked her severely and set her at naught, saying, 'Was this what you swore
to my father the Emperor upon the fearsome and pure mysteries of our
faith?’ She affirmed that she had not seen them [the icons]. He spurned her
and had no more marital relations with her.’ Similarly Ps.-Symeon in Paris,
gr. 1712: see R. Browning, Byz 35 (1965), 409, and AM 6267, n. 3.

© Turkish Cemele, between Caesarea and Ancyra, 16 km. NNW of
Kir§ehir. See F. Hild and M. Restle, [OB 23 (1974), 263-70; TIB 2: 276 f. For
the campaign see Tabari, Williams, ii. 96 f.: Harun besieged Samalu for 38
days; Baladhuri, Brooks, 86 f.

“Cf. DAI 13. 61-6 and Comment., p. 66. 'The crown... . called that of
Maurice’ in V. Irenes, p. 9, c. 3; the crown of Herakleios in Kedr. ii. 20. For
the crown of Maurice, which was hung over the altar table of Hagia Sophia,
see AM 6093.

am 6273 [ad 780/1]

Year of the divine Incarnation 773

Constantine, emperor of the Romans, together with his mother (10
years), istyear

Madi, leader of the Arabs (9 years), 6th year

Adrian, bishop of Rome (27 years), 12th year

Paul, bishop of Constantinople (5 years), 2nd year

In this year, on 8 September of the 4th indiction, the most pious
Irene together with her son Constantine were miraculously’
entrusted by God with the Empire so that in this matter also God
might be glorified through a widow and her orphan son as He was
about to overthrow the boundless impiety directed against Himself
and His servants and the oppression of all the churches by God's
adversary Constantine; just as aforetime He had overthrown the
Devil by the weak hands of fishermen and illiterate folk. Forty days

626

Chronographia AM 62,05

after her succession, her son being 10 years old,” certain dignitaries
held counsel and decided to bring out the former Caesar
Nikephoros* and make him emperor. The plot was, however,
exposed. Gregory, the logothete of the Course,‘ Bardas, former strat-
egos of the Armeniacs,’ Constantine, the son of Vikarios, who was
spatharios and domestic of the excubitors, Theophylaktos, son of
Rangabe,° who was drungarius of the Dodecannese, were appre-
hended along with many others. Irene had them scourged and
tonsured and banished them to different places. As for her brothers-
in-law, the Caesars and nobilissimi, she made them take holy orders
and administer communion to the people on the feast of Christ's
Nativity,- on which day she went in public imperial procession
together with her son and offered to the church the crown that had
been removed by her husband, which she had further adorned with
pearls. She appointed the patrician Elpidios strategos of Sicily’ inas-
much as he had previously governed those parts and sent him out in
the month of February. On 15 April Elpidios was denounced for
being of the Caesars’ party, so she dispatched the spatharios
Theophilos with instructions to arrest him speedily and bring him
back. When this man had gone there, the Sicilians did not surrender
Elpidios. Thereupon Irene had his wife and sons scourged and ton-
sured and imprisoned them in the Praetorium.

In the month of June she sent all the Asiatic themata to guard the
mountain passes and watch the Arab invasion under the command
of the sakellarios John who was a eunuch of her household. Now
Madi had sent Kebir® at the head of a great force and an encounter
took place at a spot called Melon.? Battle having been joined, the
Arabs were defeated with many losses and withdrew in shame.

From that time on the pious began to speak freely. God's word
spread about, those who sought salvation were able to renounce the
world without hindrance, God's praises rose up to heaven, the
monasteries recovered, and all good things were manifested. During
this year a man who was digging by the Long Walls of Thrace found
a coffin and, after cleaning it and removing its lid, he discovered a
corpse inside and, engraved on the coffin, an inscription conceived
as follows: 'Christ will be born of the Virgin Mary and I believe in
Him. O sun, you will see me again in the reign of Constantine and
Irene.”

* Rather than ‘against all expectation’ [-rrapaSo’cos). Cf. D. Misiou,
Bvt,avTLva, ro (1980), 171 ff.

* His birth in indiction 9 (770/1) is recorded in Kleinchronik 2. 8.

3 Third son of Constantine V. The designation ano Kaioapaiv suggests he
had been stripped of his title.

627

455

AM6238 Chronographia

* His seal, bearing the titles of a secretis and logothete of the Course, in
Zacos-Veglery, i/2, no. 1947.

> Mentioned in AM 6263 as Bardanes.

° A Slavonic name, meaning 'big hands’ (rQkavii) according to
H. Gregoire, Byz 9 (1934), 793-4. That etymology is, however, doubted by
H. Ditten in Studien 8. u. 9. Jh, 109 f. Theophylaktos was the father of
Michael I.

’ His seal in Likhacev, Molivdovuly, 56.

8 Abd al-Kabir. Cf. Elias Nis. 87 (AH 164). According tO Tabari, Williams,
ii. 98, Abd al-Kabir advanced through the pass of Adata and met a Byzantine
force commanded by Michael [Lachanodrakon] and the Armenian Tazad (cf.
AM 6270), which he was afraid to fight.

° Situation unknown.

*° Cf. Mich. Syr. iii. 10-11 and our remarks in ZRVI 8/1 (1963), 201-07.
Note that the initial words of the inscription, Xpiaros /zéAAei yevvaadat,
recall the Early Christian epigraphic formula XMr, as pointed out by A.
Frolow, BS126 (1965), 399. The inscription, which found a wide echo in later
writings and art, was certainly fabricated for political reasons.

fam 6274, ad 78:1/2]|

Constantine and Irene, 2nd year
Madi, 7thyear

Adrian, 13th year

Paul, 3rd year

In this year Irene sent the sakellarios Konstaes and the primicerius
Mamalos to Karoulos, king of the Franks, with a view to betrothing
his daughter, called Erythro,’ to her son, the emperor Constantine.
An agreement having been reached and oaths exchanged, they left
the eunuch Elissaios, who was a notary, in order to teach Erythro
Greek letters and language and educate her in the customs of the
Roman Empire.*

Irene fitted out a big fleet with a picked force taken from the the-
mata and a sufficient number of officers. She appointed the patrician
Theodore, a eunuch and an energetic man, as commander and sent
him to Sicily against Elpidios. After much fighting Theodore's men
were victorious. On seeing this and taking fright, Elpidios took all
the moneys he had as well as the dux Nikephoros and crossed to
Africa, where he defected to the Arabs after receiving a promise of
immunity. They received him and kept him as if he were emperor of
the Romans, having conferred an empty coronation on him and
invested him with the red buskins and a crown.?

While the Roman army was busy with these matters, Madi's son

628

Chronographia AM 62,05

Aaron sallied forth with an enormous armed force composed of
Maurophoroi and men from all of Syria, Mesopotamia, and the
desert and advanced as far as Chrysopolis* after leaving Bounousos?
to besiege Nakoleia and guard his rear. He also sent Bourniche® to
Asia with a force of 30,000. The latter gave battle to Lachanodrakon
and the Thrakesian thema at a place called Darenos’ and, the Arabs
being 30,000 strong, killed 15,000. The empress for her part sent the
domesticus Antony at the head of the tagmata-, he occupied Bane®
and blockaded the Arabs. But Tatzatios, strategos of the Bucellarii,
defected to the Arabs because of his hatred towards the eunuch
Staurakios, the patrician and logothete of the Course, who at that
time was at the head of everything and administered all matters. On
his advice the Arabs asked for peace. When Staurakios, the magis-
tros Peter, and the domesticus Antony went forth on this mission,
they did not take care to receive explicit promises and take the chil-
dren of the Arab leaders as hostages. Instead, they went out heed-
lessly and were seized by them and put in chains. So both sides were
obliged to make peace. The Augusta and Aaron exchanged many
gifts and agreed that at stated times (tribute) should be paid to the
Arabs.’ After peace had been concluded they departed, abandoning
also the fort of Nakoleia.’° Tatzates took away his wife and all his
possessions.

" Rotrud. The embassy set out before 25 May 781. See, amongst others,
Dolger, Reg. 339; W. Ohnsorge, Abendland und Byzanz (Darmstadt, 1958),
65 ff.

* Note the distinction between the official designation of the Empire, on
the one hand, and its language, on the other (rcov FpaiKcov ypapi/xara Kai Trjv
yXdiaaav), Latin being usually called pui/xdiK-rj yXwaaa. Greek instruction of
the clerks at Charlemagne's court was entrusted to the Lombard Paul the
Deacon. See eg. P. Riche, Education et culture dans 1'Occident barbare
(Paris, 1962), 46s.

3 For the defection of Elpidios cf. Mich. Syr. iii. 9, who has him commit
adultery with the empress Irene; and for his later role at the Arab court
15-16; Chr. 1234, ii. 1-2, AG 1104. Tabari, Williams, ii. 213, mentions him
as taking part in an expedition against Byzantium in AH 178 (794/5).

4 The advance ofthe Arabs to Chalcedonis recorded in Kleichronik, 2.10.

> Rabi’ b. Yunus, on whom see EI’, s.v. For the campaign of 782 see
Tabari, Williams, ii. 213 with Brooks, 'Abbasids', 737-9; L. Tritle, Byz 47
(1977), 279-300, who explains the role of Tatzatios with the help of Lewond,
c. 39; Treadgold, Revival, 67-9.

° Presumably al-Barmakl, the name of a prominent family, on which see
EI, s.v. ‘al-Baramika'; Bournike in Mich. Syr. iii. 2.

7 Darioukome according to Treadgold, Revival, 68. Mich. Syr., loc. cit.,
states that Bournike killed 10,000 Romans.

629

457

AM 6238 Chronographia

® Modern Sapanca, Aifxvy] Bav-fjs in Zon. iii. 287. 2, BaAv-q Xijxvr) in Anna
Comnena, ii. 205. 20. Mich. Syr. iii. 2, makes it clear that the Arabs were
trapped near the Sangarios, ‘entre la montagne d'un cote et les eaux de
l'autre’.

° For the amount of the tribute (70,000 or 90,000 dinars per year), see
Tabari, loc. cit.

"© Which the Arabs had failed to take. A miraculous deliverance of
Nakoleia from an Arab siege is related by Pantoleon the Deacon, Miracula
S. Michaelis, found in many MSS, e.g. Paris, gr. 1196, fos. 22°-23. It goes like
this: At one time the Hagarenes were besieging Nakoleia with engines of
war. Informed by a captive that the city was protected by St Michael, they
discharged a huge stone into the fort (kastron), aiming at the church, which
occupies a high position. Immediately the heads of the men who had hurled
the stone, of the emir and his notables were twisted backwards. Recognizing
their mistake, they loaded many camels with wax and oil, precious gar-
ments, and the decorated bridles of their horses, and sent these goods to the
church, asking for forgiveness. Thereupon their heads were restored to their
normal position. They vowed never to attack that kastron again and have
kept their promise until now.

[am 6278s, ad 782/3]

Constantine and Irene, 3rd year
Madi, 8thyear

Adrian, 14th year

Paul, 4th year

In this year Irene, after making peace with the Arabs and gaining a
breathing space, sent Staurakios, the patrician and logothete of the
swift Course, at the head of a numerous force against the Sklavinian
tribes. He advanced to Thessalonica and Hellas, subdued all of them
and made them pay tribute to the Empire. He even penetrated into
the Peloponnese’ and brought back many captives and much booty
to the Roman Empire.

" Cf. Mich. Syr. iii. 13, who is under the illusion that the Peloponnese
was subject to the Arabs, and the comment of Bon, Peloponnese, 42.

[am 6276, ad 783/4]

Constantine and Irene, 4th year
Madi, 9 thyear

Adrian, 15th year

Paul, 5thyear

630

Chronographia AM 62,05

In this year, in the month of January of the 7th indiction,’ the said
Staurakios returned from the Slavonian regions and celebrated his
victory during the hippodrome games. In the month of May of the
same 7th indiction the empress Irene together with her son and a
numerous force went forth to Thrace, taking along organs and musi-
cal instruments. She advanced to Beroia,’ which she ordered to be
rebuilt and called it Eirenoupolis. She also went as far as
Philippoupolis with complete impunity and returned in peace after
rebuilding Anchialos.

In the same year Madi, son of Mouamed, the leader of the Arabs,
died and his son Moses acceded to power.?

On 31 August of the same 7th indiction Paul, the venerable and
most holy patriarch, fell ill and left his throne. He went to the
monastery of Florus and took the monastic habit without informing
the imperial government. When the empress had learnt of this, sor-
rowful as she was, she went to see him together with her son and
cried in reproof, 'Why have you done this?’ He replied with many
tears, ‘Would that I had not sat at all on the throne of priesthood
while God's Church was suffering oppression, separated as she was
from the other catholic thrones and subject to anathema.’ She sum-
moned the patricians and the chief men of the Senate and sent them
to hear his words. He said to them, ‘Unless an ecumenical council
takes place and the error that is in your midst is corrected, you will
not find salvation.’ They said to him, 'Why is it then that you sub-
scribed at your ordination to not worshipping icons?’ He replied, 'For
this very reason I am weeping and have taken refuge in repentance,
praying to God that He should not punish me as a priest who has
remained silent until now and has not preached the truth from fear
of your fury.’ At this juncture he died in peace to the great sorrow of
the body politic, for the man was venerable, charitable beyond mea-
sure, and worthy of all respect. Both the public and the imperial gov-
ernment had great confidence in him. So from that time onwards the
question of the holy icons began to be openly discussed and disputed
by everyone.*

* AD 784. * Stara Zagora.

3 Actually, Mahdi died on u Aug. 785 ( = ind. 8) and was succeeded by
Musa al-Hadi, who died in Sept. 786.

* The resignation and death of Paul are reported in similar terms, but
without his demand for a council, in the imperial sacra, Mansi, xii.
1003D-1006A. Cf. also V. Taras., 397-8 (where Paul is made to designate
Tarasios as his successor) and Nikephoros, Apolog. min., PG 100: 837C f.
More briefly in V. Joann. Gotth. 191A.

631

459

AM6238 Chronographia

[am 6277, ad 784/5]

Constantine and Irene, 5 thyear

Moses, leader of the Arabs (1 year), 1st year

Adrian, 16th year

Tarasios, bishop of Constantinople (21 years), 1st year

In this year the empress Irene gathered all the people at the Magna-
ura and said to them, 'You know, O brethren, what the patriarch Paul
has done. If he had been alive, we would not have acquiesced in his
abandoning the episcopal throne even though he had taken the
monastic habit. Since, however, he has departed from this life accord-
ing to God's pleasure, let us take thought to find a man who is able
to tend us like a shepherd and to fortify the Church with his words of
instruction.’ They all said unanimously that there was none other
than Tarasios the a seczetis.’ She said to them, 'We, too, cast our vote
for him, but he is being disobedient. Let him explain why he is not
accepting the decision of our Majesty and of all the people.’ So he
offered his excuses to the people in the following words:

n'Our faithful emperors who guard our stainless Christian faith
and are zealous in promoting the glory of God, taking care as they do
of all things that please Him and are beneficial to us, especially those
concerning the Church, have now, too, shown a diligent solicitude
in taking thought of the appointment of a bishop in this their
Imperial City. Wherefore, they have taken me to their pious mind
and commanded me to declare openly their decision. Since, how-
ever, | have pronounced myself unworthy of this and have not given
my consent inasmuch as I was unable to carry or to bear the yoke of
the burden, they have commanded that I should be brought in front
of you, since you, too, have acquiesced in this their purpose. So now,
O God-fearing men who constantly carry Him in your hearts and
bear the name of Christ our true God—I mean the name of
Christians, hearken to a short speech of apology on the part of my
exiguous humility. For my part—as I have explained to our pious
emperors who are orthodox in all respects and am further explaining
in your presence—I am seized by fear to consent to this election and
stand in dread before the face of God" to hasten to it unprepared and
without careful consideration lest I be liable to a terrible condemna-
tion. For if the holy apostle Paul who had heard God's voice, who
had been educated in heaven and had beheld paradise, who had hear-
kened to secret words and carried the name of God before nations
and kings, said in writing to the Corinthians, "lest in preaching to
others I prove myself unfit",” how can I who live in the world, who
am numbered among laymen and enrolled in the imperial service,

632

Chionogiaphia AM 62,71

rush to the magnitude of the priesthood without examination and
due circumspection? Such an undertaking would be fearsome com-
pared to my exiguity; such a course would be indeed audacious. The
cause of my fear and my refusal is the following. I behold and I see
that the Church which is founded upon the rock, namely Christ our
God,‘ is now divided and torn asunder; that we at times speak in one
manner while our fellow-believers, the Christians of the East, speak
differently and the westerners agree with them, whereas we are
estranged from them all and are every day anathematized by them.
A terrible thing is an anathema,- it drives one far from God, it pushes
one away from the kingdom of heaven and leads to the outer dark-
ness.“ The Church in its rule and law does not recognize dissension
or dispute, but just as it is wont to confess one baptism and one faith,
so does it also confess a single consensus on all ecclesiastical mat-
ters. Nothing is so acceptable and agreeable to God as our being
united and becoming one catholic Church, as, indeed, we confess in
the symbol of our pure faith. Wherefore we ask, O brethren (and so,
I believe, you do also since I know that you have the fear of God),
that an ecumenical council be convened by our most pious and
orthodox emperors so that we, who belong to the one God, should be
made one; that we, who belong to the Trinity, should be united and
be of one mind and of equal honour; that we, the one body of Christ
who is our head, should be fitted and joined together,- that we, who
belong to the Holy Spirit, should stand by one another and not one
against the other; that we, who belong to Truth, should believe and
say the same things; so that there should not be a dispute and divi-
sion among us, but that the peace of God that surpasses all under-
standing should guard all of us. And if our emperors, the protectors
of orthodoxy, deign to approve of my request, I, too, give my consent
to fulfil their command and I accept your election; but if not, I find
it impossible to do so, lest I be subjected to anathema and appear
condemned on the day of our Lord, the Judge of Righteousness, when
neither emperor nor priest, neither dignitaries nor a crowd of men
will be able to deliver me. Whatever your pleasure happens to be, O
brethren, give an answer to my apology or, rather, to my request.’

Everyone listened gladly to these words and agreed that a synod
should be held.* Once again Tarasios addressed the people saying:
'The emperor Leo destroyed the icons and when the synod took
place it found them destroyed. And since they have been destroyed
by the hand of an emperor, the matter is again under investigation,
namely that they dared, according to their whims, to abolish an
ancient custom that had been handed down in the Church. But
God's truth is not bound, as the apostle saith.'®!!"

633

460

AM6238 Chronographia

On 25 December of the same 8th indiction*? our holy father
Tarasios was ordained patriarch of Constantinople. He sent to Rome
his synodic letters and a declaration of his faith and was recognized
by Pope Adrian.* The empress, too, sent word to the same pope ask-
ing him to dispatch letters and emissaries to be present at the
synod.*> He sent Peter, the oikonomos of his church,° and Peter,
abbot of St Sabas,’ honourable men adorned with every virtue. The
empress and the patriarch also sent word to Antioch and Alexandria,
for the peace with the Arabs had not yet been broken.® From Antioch
they brought that great man John, famous in word and deed, a holy
man who had been synkellos of the patriarch of Antioch,-? and from
Alexandria Thomas, a zealous and most pious man who later distin-
guished himself as archbishop of Thessalonica, the great city of
Illyricum.”

" Cf. 1 Kgs. (2 Sam.) 18:15, 18: 29; Hab. 2: 20, etc. i

identical text in Mansi, xii. 986D-99oB. Differently in V. Taras., 400-1.

' Protoasekretis in V. Irenes, p. 12. 2., V. Taras. 397. 2, 398. 28, and other
sources.

* Mansi, xii. 990A, adds at this point: rives Si oXiyoi Tuv a<j>povcov
aveftaWovTo (differebant).

3 AD 784.

4 But not without criticism of his uncanonical ordination.

> Trene's letter is in Mansi, xii. 984E-986C (Latin only). It is dated IV Kal.
Sept. ind. VII (read VIII), hence before the ordination of Tarasios.

® St Peter's.

? The 'Greek' monastery on the Aventine, on which see e.g. J.-M.
Sansterre, Les Moines grecs et orientaux a Rome aux epoques byzantine et
carolingienne (Brussels, 1983) i. 22 ff.

8 It lasted from 782 until 785. Misdated to 781-4 in Dolger, Reg. 340.
The letter addressed to the Oriental patriarchs in Mansi, xii. 1119D-1127A.

° On whom see Melioranskij, Georgij, 97 ff. He read out at the Council
of 787 the well-known account of the origins of iconoclasm.

”° He died in 807. See O. Tafrali, Thessalonique des origines au XIV’ sie-
cle (Paris, 1919), 273.

[am 6278, ad 785/6]

Constantine and Irene, 6th year

Aaron, leader of the Arabs (23 years), 1st year
Adrian, 17thyear

Tarasios, 2nd year

Chronographia AM 62,05

In this year Moses, the leader of the Arabs, died and power was
assumed by his brother Aaron,’ who inflicted many ills on the
Christians.

In the same year the emperors sent invitations to all the bishops
subject to them, the letters and men who had been sent from Rome
by Pope Adrian having arrived, as we have said, as well as those of
the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria. On 7 August of the gth
indiction* they took their seats in the church of the Holy Apostles
in the Imperial City and began reading out Holy Scripture and dis-
cussing with one another, while the emperors watched the proceed-
ings from the gallery. Now the host of the scholarii and excubitors
and of the other tagmata, at the instigation of their own officers
(clinging as they did to the doctrine of their evil teacher), bared their
swords and attacked them threatening to kill the archbishop as well
as the orthodox bishops and abbots. When the empress attempted to
restrain them through the men of her household who were present,
they were not swayed, but added further insults. As the patriarch
rose and entered the hema together with the orthodox bishops and
monks, the bishops who shared the wicked views of the soldiers
went out to them shouting 'We have won!’ By God's grace those
inhuman madmen did not hurt anyone. The synod having been dis-
solved, everyone returned home.?

" Harun al-Rasid, Sept. 786-Mar. 809. Mich. Syr. iii. 3 places his acces-
sion in July AG 1097.

* Actually, on 1 Aug. 786: Mansi, xii. 999D. In the Acts of 787 dates are
given according to the Roman calendar, which Theoph. appears to have mis-
understood. Hence the further mistakes in AM 6280 (nn. 3 and 4).

3 Fora fuller account of the abortive meeting in the church of the Holy
Apostles see Mansi, xii. 990C-991B. Discussed by Alexander, Nicephorus,
18 f.

[am 6279, ad 786/7]

Constantine and Irene, 7th year
Aaron, 2nd year

Adrian, 18th year

Tarasios, 3rd year

In this year, in the month of September at the beginning of the (oth)
indiction,' the empress sent Staurakios, the patrician and logothete,
to Thrace to meet the Asiatic themata that were there at the time.
He persuaded them to assist her in expelling from the City the
impious host whom the iniquitous Constantine had enrolled and

635

AM 6238 Chronographia

educated. She pretended to be undertaking an expedition to the east-
ern parts as if the Arabs had invaded;* and so all the imperial equip-
ment and the tent? were sent out to Malagina.* The men of the
provincial themata then entered the City and held it Thereupon she
sent word to the tagmata saying, 'Deliver to me your arms for I have
no need of you.' They, made senseless by God, surrendered them.
She then placed their families in boats and exiled them from the
City, bidding each man go back to his native land. After forming her
own army with officers who were obedient to her, in the month of
May she once again sent messages to all parts inviting the bishops to
present themselves at the city of Nicaea in Bithynia with a view to
holding the synod there. All through the summer everyone gathered
at Nicaea.’ As for the representatives from Rome and the East, she
had not dismissed them, but had detained them.°

On g September of the nth indiction,’ a Sunday, a considerable
eclipse of the sun took place at the 5th hour of the day while holy
liturgy was being performed.

‘ AD 786.

* There was an Arab summer campaign in AH 170 (3 July 786-21 June
787): Tabari, Williams, ii. 186.

3 -q KopTTj, on which cf. Cer. 489-90; Theoph. Cont. 236.

4 The first major camp (a7rAij«rov| of the Byzantine army on the road to
the eastern frontier. The situation of Malagina has been much debated. See
most recently C. Foss, AnatSt 40 (1990), 16r ff., who places it on the left
bank of the Sangarios, between modern Mekece and Pamukova, due east of
Nicaea. On the list of camps see G. Huxley, GRBS 16 (1975), 87-93.

> For these events cf. Mansi, xii. g91C; V. Joann. Gotth. 191B (scholarii
with their wives and children numbered c.6,000).

® Actually, the papal legates had reached Sicily on their homeward jour-
ney when they were recalled: Pope Hadrian I, Ep. ad Carolum Magnum,

MGH, Epist. v. 56. 26.
7 AD 787. The eclipse took place on Sunday 16 Sept.: Grumel, 463.

[am 6280, ad 787/8]

Constantine and Irene, 8th year
Aaron, 3rd year

Adrian, 19 thyear

Tarasios, 4th year

In this year Tarasios, the most holy patriarch of Constantinople,
went to Nicaea and there was held the Seventh holy and ecumenical
Synod consisting of 350 bishops.’ And so the catholic Church

636

Chronographia AM 62,05

regained her ancient adornment. The synod introduced no new doc-
trine, but maintained unshaken the doctrines of the holy and blessed
Fathers; it rejected the new heresy and anathematized the three false
patriarchs, namely Anastasios, Constantine, and Niketas and every-
one who shared their views. The first meeting and session of the
bishops took place in the episcopal church of Nicaea, that of St
Sophia,” on 1 October of the nth indiction.* In the month of
November‘ everyone entered the Imperial City. After the emperors
and the bishops had taken their seats in the Magnaura, the decree
was read out and signed by the emperor and his mother. When they
had thus confirmed the true religion and the ancient doctrines of the
holy Fathers, they rewarded the priests and dismissed them. And so
God's Church found peace, even though the Enemy does not cease
from sowing his tares among his own workmen; but God's Church
when she is under attack always proves victorious.

" The figure 350 (r/| is dB's emendation of tw of the MSS (Anast. gives
no figure). The correct number is 36s. For the episcopal list see J. Darrouzes,

REB 33 11975], 5-76.
* On which see A.-M. Schneider, Die romischen u. byzant. Denkmdler

von Iznik-Nicaea (Berlin, 1943) 10 ff.
3 Actually, 24 Sept. (7750 oxru KaXavSiuv X)KT<xifipl<x>v. Mansi xii. 991E).
4 The meeting in the Magnaura took place on 23 Oct., npo SeVa KaXavSwv
Noefi/Spicov: Mansi, xiii. 413B. For an account of the Council see G.
Dumeige, Nicee II (Paris, 1978), 101 ff.

fam 6281, ad 788/9]

Constantine and Irene, 9 thyear
Aaron, 4th year

Adrian, 20th year

Tarasios, 5thyear

In this year an Arab raiding party went forth against the Roman
country in the month of September and penetrated into the Anatolic
thema, to a place called Kopidnadon.' The Roman strategoi joined
forces and gave battle to them. They were defeated and many were
killed, including not a few of the exiled scholar ii. Diogenes, the able
turmach of the Anatolics,* also fell as well as the officers of
Opsikion.

The empress Irene broke her contract with the Franks and sent out
the protospatharios Theophanes, who brought a maiden from the
Armeniac parts, Maria of Amnia.’ She married her to her son, the
emperor Constantine, who was unwilling and very distressed

637

AM 6238 Chronographia

because of his connection with the daughter of Karoulos, king of the
Franks, to whom he had been previously betrothed. His wedding was
celebrated in the month of November, indiction 12.*

Philetos, strategos of Thrace, went off to the Strymon and
encamped without due precaution. The Bulgarians suddenly fell on
him, killing him and many others.

Irene sent John, the sakellarios and logothete of the military chest,
to Longobardia along with Theodotos,’ the former king of Greater
Longobardia, to take measures, if possible, against Karoulos and
detach from him some of his supporters. They went off together with
Theodore, patrician and strategos of Sicily.° Battle having been joined,
the same John was captured by the Franks and put to a terrible death.’

"The same as Podandos, from a mistaken reading Kwifir/) IloSavSos,
according to H. Gregoire, Byz 7 (1932), 287. Cf. TIB 2: 74. Tabari, Williams,
ii. 188, mentions briefly a summer expedition in AH 172 (788/9) without any
details.

" Identified as the prototype of the epic hero Digenes Akrites by H.
Gregoire, Byz 6 (1931), 498-9. Cf. Treadgold, Revival, 401 n. no.

3 Amnia is described as being in the district of Gangra in Paphlagonia: V.
Philareti, 135.31. Cf. our remarks in DOP 18 (1964), 333; D. Feissel, Rivista
di archeologia cristiana, 58 (1982), 375 ff. Maria is said to have been chosen
in a bride-show or beauty contest, this being the first recorded case of the
practice. For its next occurrence see AM 6300. Cf. Treadgold, Byz 49 (1979),
395-413-

4 AD 788. 5 See above, AM 6267.

7 For the Byzantine defeat in Italy see Treadgold, Revival, 92.

[am 6282, ad 789/90]

Constantine and Irene, 10th year
Aaron, 5 thyear

Adrian, 21st year

Tarasios, 6th year

In this year the Devil, grudging the emperors’ piety, inspired certain
evil men to set the mother against her son and the son against his
mother. They persuaded her that they had been informed through
prophecies’ to the effect that ‘It is ordained by God that your son
should not obtain the Empire, for it is yours, given to you by God.'
Deceived, like the woman she was, and being also ambitious, she
was Satisfied that things were indeed so, and did not perceive that
those men had offered the above pretext because they wanted to

638

Chronographia AM 62,05

administer the affairs of State. Now the emperor had reached the age
of 20; he was vigorous and very able and saw that he had no author-
ity whatsoever. He was distressed to see that Staurakios, the patri-
cian and logothete, had everything in his power and that everyone
went up to him, while nobody dared consort with the emperor. After
taking counsel with the men of his entourage, who were few, as well
as with the magistros Peter,- the patrician Theodore Kamoulianos,
and the patrician Damian, he determined to arrest Staurakios and
banish him to Sicily, whereupon he would assume the Empire
together with his mother.

On 9 February of the 13th indiction® there occurred a terrible
earthquake so that no one’ dared sleep indoors, but everyone dwelt
in tents that they had set up in orchards and open courts. The
empress, for her part, went out to St Mamas together with her son.
When Staurakios had been informed of this opportunity, he roused
the Augusta against her son. So she arrested the emperor's men, had
them all flogged and tonsured, together with his preceptor,’ the pro-
tospatharios John surnamed Pikridios, and exiled them to the south-
ern parts, even as far as Sicily. The magistros Peter she subjected to
dishonour and confined him to his house, and she did the same to
the patrician Theodore Kamoulianos.° As for the patrician Damian,
she had him scourged and tonsured and banished him to the fort of
Apollonias.’ She also flogged her son and, after addressing many
reproaches to him, kept him confined for several days. She started to
impose the following oath on the army, 'As long as you are alive we
shall not suffer your son to rule.’ Everyone swore those words and no
one at all dared to object.

An Arab fleet sailed to Cyprus. Forewarned of this, the empress,
too, assembled all the Roman ships and sent them against the Arabs.
When they had come to Myra, all the strategoi rounded cape
Chelidonion® and entered the gulf of Ataleia. The Arabs, for their
part, set out from Cyprus and, the wind having dropped, they were
carried about the sea. When they had come within sight of land, the
strategoi saw them and drew up ready for battle. Now Theophilos,
strategos of the Kibyraiots, a vigorous and very able man, boldly
advanced in front of the others and, on joining battle, was captured
by the Arabs. They took him to Aaron who saw him and urged him
to become a traitor in return for transient liberalities. When he did
not accept this and did not yield to further constraint, he was pun-
ished by the sword and so proved an excellent martyr.’

* Or, perhaps, 'by men who foresaw the future’: so V. Irenes, p. 16 @c
TTpoyvaiaTiKoiv avSpuiv).

639

AM 6238 Chronographia

A dedicated follower of Constantine V (AM 6259, n. 10), he took part in
an embassy to Harun al-Rasid in 78T: Dolger, Reg. 340; Winkelmann,
Quellenstudien, 115.

> AD 790.

* The reading of V. Irenes, p. 17, /Hl) ToXp,dv riva, is preferable to Theoph.'s
fi.tj ToA/xav Tivas.

5 fidyvXo; from Lat. baiulus. The same term is applied under AM 5 936 to
the eunuch Antiochos (not in Mai. 361, who is Theophanes' source). Job.
Ant., frg. 2i8d, FHG v. 36 = Exc. de ins. 148. 29, names Zretfiavos 6 fiatovXos
QeoSoolov (the son of Maurice). Hence the word had entered the Greek lan-
guage by the early 7th cent. According to D. A. Bullough, EHR 77 (1962),
628L, baiulus (originally ‘porter’ or '‘labourer') took on the special sense of
‘tutor’, especially of a young prince, in Merovingian Gaul. John Pikridios
founded a monastery on the north side of the Golden Horn: Patria, 265,
where he is called a koitonites = cubicularius.

° Kedr. ii. 24, in summarizing this passage, adds that the magistros
[Peter], Theodore Kamoulianos, and others were banished kv KdiaTopla.
Whatever this may mean, it cannot refer to confinement in quaestorio, that
is at Constantinople, as argued by G. Ostrogorsky, DOP 13 (1959) 56 n. 34,
the verb iMcjpiaev implying removal from the capital.

7 Presumably Apollonia ad Rhyndacum.

® To the east of Myra. See C. Fellows, Discoveries in Lycia (London,
1841), 212; Ruge, RE iii (1899), 2227.

2 Cf. Syn. CP 434 (30 Jan.); Menologium Basilianum, PG 117: 285-8,
which add that Theophilos was accompanied by three other strategoi, who
deserted him during the battle, and that he was beheaded after four years in
prison. His gold ring and seal in Zacos-Veglery, i/2, nos. 1658, 2523.

am 6283 [ad 790/1]

Year of the divine Incarnation 783

Constantine, emperor of the Romans, (7 years), 1st year
Aaron, leader of the Arabs (23 years), 6th year

Adrian, bishop of Rome (27 years), 22nd year

Tarasios, bishop of Constantinople (21 years), 7th year

In this year, in the month of September, indiction 14,’ the men who
were administering the oath came to the thema of the Armeniacs.
The latter did not consent to swear, 'We shall not be ruled by your
son as long as you are alive’, [saying] 'We shall not even place the
name of Irene before that of Constantine, but shall keep Constantine
and Irene as we have accepted at the beginning.’* The empress sent
a second emissary to arrest them,*? namely Alexios surnamed
Mousoulem, the spatharios and drungarios of the Watch.* But they
held him and appointed him their commander, while they impris-

640

Chronographia AM 62,05

oned the patrician Nikephoros, their own strategos, and acclaimed
Constantine as sole emperor. When the men of the other themata
had heard of this, they expelled their strategoi and they, too, pro-
claimed Constantine sole emperor. Oh, the wicked Devil's cunning!
See how he hastens to destroy the human race by means of many
machinations! For the same men who fifteen years earlier had sworn
that terrible oath and made signed declarations which they
deposited in the holy sanctuary,’ then swore to Irene that they
would not be ruled by her son as long as she was alive. Once again,
forgetting that, they acclaimed Constantine emperor, not under-
standing, wretches that they were, that they should not have taken
contrary oaths; for it is inevitable that perjury should result from
contrary oaths, and perjury is a denial of God.

In the month of October of the 14th indiction the men of the the-
mata gathered at Atroa® and unanimously asked for the emperor
Constantine who was then in his twentieth year. Being afraid of the
impetus of the army, Irene let him go. They confirmed him as
emperor and rejected his mother. Straight away the emperor sent
Michael Lachanodrakon and his preceptor, the protospatharios John,
and they made the Armeniacs swear that they would not accept his
mother Irene as their emperor;’ and he confirmed Alexios as their
strategos. When the emperor returned to the City in the month of
December, he had Staurakios flogged and tonsured and exiled him to
the thema of the Armeniacs that the latter might be satisfied. He
also exiled the eunuch Aetios, the protospatharios, who was Irene's
confidant, and all the other eunuchs of her household. As for her, he
placed her in all security® in the palace of Eleutherios,? which she
had built and where she had hidden a great deal of money. In that
same month there was a fire: the hall of the Patriarchate called
Thomaites,’° the Quaestorium,” and many other buildings as far as
the Milion were burnt.

In the month of April Constantine made an expedition against the
Bulgarians and advanced to the fort Probaton” by the stream of St
George. He encountered Kardamos, the lord of Bulgaria, and, follow-
ing a small engagement in the evening, the Romans, losing their
courage, fled in the night and returned ingloriously. The Bulgarians,
too, were frightened and withdrew.

* AD 790.

* Sense requires us to read: ol Se ov KareSeavro opcoaai, om "ov
faoiXevo%ieda vno rov vlov cov iv rij Cojrj cov,,—"ovhi 77pordooo%ev (Xiyovres
vel sim.} to ovojxa Eiprivrs", etc. Note the inquiunt in Anast. 309. 29.

> Or 'to persuade them' if one accepts Combefis's conjecture -rreioai for

TuaGai, supported by Anast.'s ad inflectendum eos.

641

AM 6283 Chionogiaphia

4 This dignity is here mentioned for the first time: Bury, Adm. System,
60-1. On the Watch (vigla) see Haldon, Piaetoiians, 236 ff. On Alexios
Mousoulem (or Mousele from Armenian Musel), see Winkelmann,
Quellenstudien, 155 F.

5 See above, AM 6268.

° A plain near the Bithynian Olympos. See V. Laurent, La Vie mez-
veilleuse de S. Piezze d'Atzoa = Subs. hag. 29 (1956), 38-9, who, following
B. Menthon, places it west of Prousa. The arguments for so doing are less
than convincing. Cf. our comments in AUS » (1983), 3940. 7.

7 Note masc. gender: els (3aoi\ea. Cf. F. Dolger, BZ 36 (19361, 120 ff.

8 Mera rr)s avadelas avrrfs = under a pledge of being left unmolested.
Mistranslated by Anast. as cum suavitate sua et affluentia.

° This palace, in which Theophanes himself was later to be imprisoned,
was situated in the area of modern Aksaray: Janin, CP, 131; Berger, Patiia,
588-90.

*° To the south of Hagia Sophia. Built by patriarch Thomas I (607-10). See
Mango, Bzazezi House, 52-3.

“Also mentioned in Patzia, 256. Cf. Janin, CP, 173; Berger, Patria,
Perea,

* Bulgarian Provadija, now Sinankoy, 21 km. NNW of Adrianople: TIB
6: 415 f-

fam 6284, ad 791/2]

Constantine, 2nd year
Aaron, 7thyear
Adrian, 23rd year
Tarasios, 8th year

In this year, in the month of September, the emperor made an expe-
dition against the Arabs. Setting out from Amorion, he made for
Tarsos in Cilicia, but when he had come to the Waterless Towers,’
he turned back empty-handed in the month of October, indiction
IS-?

On 15 January, after receiving entreaties from his mother and
many persons in authority, the emperor once again pronounced her
empress and she was acclaimed along with him as in the beginning,
‘Long live Constantine and Irene!’ Everyone acquiesced in this, but
the thema of the Armeniacs resisted and rebelled.* They asked for
Alexios, who a little earlier had been their strategos, and whom the
emperor had at that time summoned under a verbal pledge, hon-
oured with the rank of patrician, and kept in his presence. Because
of the quest for him and certain rumours that were reported of him,
namely that he would become emperor, he had him flogged and ton-
sured and confined him in the Praetorium.

642

Chronographia AM 62,05

In the month of July he made an expedition against the Bulgarians
and built up the fort of Markellai;* and on 20 July Kardamos, the lord
of Bulgaria, went forth with all his forces and stationed himself on
the fortifications.’ Breathing hotly and persuaded by false prophets
that victory would be his, the emperor joined battle without plan or
order and was severely beaten. He fled back to the City having lost
many men, not only ordinary soldiers, but also persons invested
with authority, among them the magistros Michael Lachano-
drakon,° the patrician Bardas,’ the protospatharios Stephen
Chameas, the former strategoi Niketas and Theognostos, and many
other men in imperial service as well as the false prophet, the
astrologer Pankratios who had prophesied that he would win. The
Bulgarians took the whole train,® namely money, horses, and the
emperor's tent with all his equipment.? When the tagmata had
assembled in the City, they decided to bring the former Caesar
Nikephoros out of retirement and make him emperor. Informed of
this, Constantine ordered that all the sons of his grandfather
Constantine should be brought to St Mamas: he blinded Nikephoros
and cut off the tongues of Christopher, Niketas, Anthimos, and
Eudokimos. Along with them he blinded the aforementioned patri-
cian Alexios, having been persuaded by the pleading of his mother
and of Staurakios (the said patrician) that if he did not blind him they
would elect him emperor. The punishment of those men took place
in the month of August, on a Saturday, indiction 15, at the 9th hour.
But not for long did God's judgement leave this unjust deed
unavenged: for after a lapse of five years, in the same month and also
on a Saturday the same Constantine was blinded by his own mother.

‘Aw&poi Ilvpyoi, perhaps the same as the town of Pyrgoi, a short dis-
tance west of Laranda (Karaman) .See TIB 4:218. Tarsos had been garrisoned
byHarunin 787/8: see J. F. HaldonandH. Kennedy, ZRVI 19 (1980), 108.

? AD 791. 3 Cf. Mich. Syr. iii. 9.

4 Markellai had existed earlier (Nik. 73. 17), so that eVnae must refer to
a restoration. It probably corresponds to Krumova Krepost, 7 km. WSW of
Karnobat. Ruins described by K. Skorpil in Aboba-Pliska, IRAIK 10 (1905),
513-14, 564. See TIB 6: 348 f.

> Presumably the border fortifications, on which see AM 6303, n. 23.

° His seal with the titles of patrician, protospatharios and magister in
Zacos-Veglery, i/3, no. 3145.

7 Perhaps the former strategos of the Armeniacs.

® TO tovxsov, sometimes used synonymously with airooKev-a, designated
the train of horses and mules which transported the army's equipment. See
A. Dain, AIPHOS 10 (1950), 161-9; G. Dagron and H. Mihaescu, Le Traite
sur la guerilla de l'empereur Nicephore Phocas (Paris, 1986), 187.

643

AM 6238 Chronographia

° St Ioannikios fought in this battle, after which he deserted from the
army. See our comments in HUS 7 (1983), 398 ff.

[am 6285, ad 792/3]

Constantine, 3rd year
Aaron, 8thyear
Adrian, 24th year
Tarasios, 9th year

In this year the Armeniacs, having heard that the patrician Alexios
had been blinded, imprisoned their strategos, the patrician Theodore
Kamoulianos.’ On being informed of this, the emperor dispatched
the protospatharios Constantine Artaser and Chrysocheres, strate-
gos of the Bucellarii, with soldiers taken from the remaining the-
mata in order to apprehend them. The latter gave battle, captured
both commanders and blinded them, and many were slain on both
sides in the month of November of the 1st indiction.”

On 25 December, in the 2nd hour, as a result of a nocturnal thun-
derstorm, part of the imperial workshop of the embroiderers in gold
thread situated at the Chrysion? caught fire.

After holy Easter the emperor, at the head of all the other themata,
made an expedition against the Armeniacs. On 26 May of the ist
indiction,* which was Pentecost Sunday, he engaged them in battle
and, thanks to the deceit of the Armenians who were with them and
who betrayed them, he captured them and put to death their tur-
march, the spatharios Andronikos, the turmarch Theophilos, and
Gregory, bishop of Sinope.® The rest he subjected to fines and con-
fiscation. A thousand men from their camp he put in chains and
brought into the City through the Blachernai gate on 24 June, a
Monday. He had their faces tattooed in ink with the words,
‘Armeniac plotter’. He then dispersed them in Sicily and the other
islands. As for the Armenians who betrayed them, since they
received no reward from the emperor, they surrendered to the Arabs
the fort of Kamachon.®

‘ He must have replaced Alexios Mousoulem. * AD 792.

3 ;uepos_ Tov fiaaiXixov ipyoSoolov tw _ \pvaoKXafiaplu>v KARA Tov
XpvoLaiva, presumably the same as the XpvookXafiov oiPatria, 145. 5, which
was attached to the Great Palace. Cf. Berger, Patria, 216; Leo Diac. 146 f.,
who implies that the superintendent fiaaiXiKrjs loTovpyias had access to the
palace. The Chrysion is mentioned in Cer. 583. 5 as being outside the palace,
but probably not far from it. The ergodosia built by Irene (Patria, 269. 14)
were by the palace of Eleutherios, hence in a different part of the city.

644

Chronographia AM 62,05

* ad 793.
> His seal in Zacos-Veglery, i/2, no. 1948A.
® Baladhuri, Brooks, 88, records that the Arabs occupied Kamachon on 29

July 793-

[am 6286, ad 793/4]

Constantine, 4th year
Aaron, 9th year
Adrian, 25thyear
Tarasios, iothyear

In this year, in the month of October of the 2nd indiction,’ the Arabs
took the fort of Thebasa’ by capitulation,- for which reason they let
its commanders depart home.

AD 793.
* In Lykaonia, roughly between Ikonion and Tyana. See me 4: 232-4. Its

capture by Abd al-Rahman b. Abd al-Malik is recorded by Mich. Syr. iii. 8-9,
AG 1104.

[am 6287, ad 794/5]

Constantine, 5th year
Aaron, 10thyear
Adrian, 26 th year
Tarasios, nth year

In this year the emperor, who had conceived an aversion towards his
wife Maria through the machinations of his mother (for she was
yearning for power and wanted him to be universally condemned),
forced her to become a nun.and, after obtaining her consent, had her
tonsured in January of the 3rd indication.’

In April he made an expedition against the Arabs. On 8 May he
engaged an Arab raiding party at a place called Anousan,” he defeated
them and drove them as far as the river. He then went to Ephesos
and, after praying in the church of the Evangelist, remitted the cus-
toms dues of the fair (which amounted to 100 lbs. of gold) in order to
win the favour of the holy apostle, the evangelist John.? In August
the emperor crowned the cubicularia Theodote* as Augusta and
betrothed himself to her illegally.

* AD 795. * Or Anousa. Situation unknown.
3 C. Foss, Ephesos after Antiquity (Cambridge, 1979), no, understands

645

cel

AM 6238 Chronographia

this passage to mean that the emperor ‘donated the whole revenue of the fair
to Saint John’, whereas Antoniadis-Bibicou, Douane, 107-8, thinks it refers
to a reduction of the tax in favour of the church of St John. The difficulty lies
in the verb €Kov<f>iaev (also under AM 6293 and Kov<j>iofiot, AM 6302), which
can mean either ‘to lighten’ or 'to cancel’ (see LSJ, s.v.]. It is clear, on the
other hand, that the sum of 100 lbs. applies to the kommerkion (tax), which,
if levied at 10%, indicates a total revenue of 1,000 lbs. of gold, a sum that
appears incredible.

4 She was a cousin of Theodore Studite. See J. Pargoire, VizVrem 9 (1902),
37; J.-C. Cheynet and B. Flusin, res 48 (1990), 195 n. 21.

[am 6288, ad 795/6]

Constantine, 6th year
Aaron, uth year
Adrian, 27 th year
Tarasios, 12 th year

In this year, in the month of September of the 4th indication,’ the
emperor celebrated his wedding to Theodote at the palace of St
Mamas for forty days.

In April of the same 4th indiction,” on a Saturday night, there was
a terrible earthquake in the island of Crete. In Constantinople, too,
there was a formidable earthquake on 4 May.

Now Kardamos, the lord of Bulgaria, declared to the emperor, 'Pay
me tribute or else I will come as far as the Golden Gate and devas-
tate Thrace.’ The emperor sent him some horse excrement wrapped
in a kerchief and said, 'Such tribute as befits you I have sent you. You
are an old man and I do not want you to take the trouble of coming
all the way here. Instead, I will go to Markellai and do you come out.
Then let God decide.’ The emperor, after sending orders to the
Asiatic themata, gathered his army and advanced as far as
Versinikia,?> while Kardamos went as far as the wooded area of
Avroleva,* but lost courage and remained in the forest. The emperor
encouraged his men and marched to the treeless part of Avroleva and
defied Kardamos for seventeen days. The latter, however, did not
dare give battle and fled back home.

In the same year the Arabs came as far as Amorion, but did not
achieve any success and withdrew after taking captives in the sur-
rounding country.’

In the same year Platon, abbot of Sakkoudion,° broke communion
with the patriarch Tarasios because the latter had admitted the
emperor to communion and had allowed his catechist to tonsure his
wife Maria and father Joseph, abbot of the Kathara monastery,’ to

646

Chronographia AM62,05

marry him to Theodote. On being informed of this, the emperor sent
Bardanios, patrician and domestic of the Schools, and John comes of
Opsikion,*® and had Platon brought to the City and confined in a cell
at the church of the Archangel in the palace.’ The other monks,
including Platon's nephews,” were flogged and exiled to Thessa-
lonica. These were supported by the emperor's mother because they
opposed him and put him to shame.

ad 795.

> aD 796. Cf. Kleinchronik, 2.15, p. 49 (a ‘universal earthquake’).

3 To the north of Adrianople, exact situation unknown. See 7 6: 205.

* Anna Comnena, ii. 203-4, mentions a locality AftpiAefidi, which was
close to ZKovrdpiov, the latter being 18 stadia from Adrianople. See
Zlatarski, i/i. 318-19 n. 27; mB 6: 159 f.

> Tabari, Williams, ii. 220, refers to a summer campaign in 796, led by
Mu'awiyab. Zufar b. ‘Asim. Cf. me 4: 123.

° The monastery of Sakkoudion, founded by Platon and his nephew,
Theodore the Studite, appears to have been situated in the area called
Katabolos, between Kios (Gemlik) and Elegmoi (Kur§unlu). See Janin,
Grands centres, 177- 8 1.

7 Or the monastery of the Katharoi. Founded by the cubicularius Narses
in the reign of Justin II, probably near Pylai in Bithynia. See E. Honigmann,
Byz 14 (1939), 617-19, 631-2; Janin, Grands centres, 158-60. Joseph was
oikonomos of Hagia Sophia. He was excommunicated by Tarasios in 797,
but rehabilitated in 806. See Alexander, Nicephorus, 83 ff.. D. Stiernon, res
28 (1970), 117 f. He died between 821 and 826.

5 Because Sakkoudion was situated in his province.

° Cf. AM 6003. This church, one of the earliest in the palace, is, strangely
enough, not mentioned in ce. The notice in Janin, E£glises, 344, no. 15, is
incomplete. According to V. Theod. Std. 1, 25 3D, Platon was confined to
the monastery of St Sergius; according to Theodore Studite, Laud. Platonis,
PG 99: 832B, in 'the miserable monastery of the palace [called] 'Ex‘xoXXa’,
probably the same as St Sergius, there being no other monastery attached to
the palace.

"© Theodore and his younger brother Joseph. On their first exile see C.
Van de Vorst, AnBoll 32 (1913) 37-8; J.-C. Cheynet and B. Flusin, REB 48
(1990), 193-211. They reached Thessalonica on 25 Mar. 797.

[am 6289, ad 796/7]

Constantine, 7th year

Aaron, 12th year

Leo, bishop of Rome (8 years), 1st year’
Tarasios, 13th year

647

471

472

AM 62,89 Chronographia

In this year, in the month of September, the emperor went forth with
his mother to take the hot baths at Prousa. On 7 October of the 5th
indiction* a son was born to the emperor and was named Leo. On
being informed of this, the emperor left his mother at the hot baths
with all the imperial retinue and the commanders and returned in all
haste to the City. Profiting from this occasion, his mother addressed
the commanders of the sgmata and beguiled them by means of gifts
and promises with a view to deposing her son and becoming sole
ruler herself; some of them she coaxed personally, others through
the men of her household, and she drew everyone to her side and was
waiting to find the proper moment.

In Rome, following the death of Pope Adrian,’ Leo, a most hon-
ourable and highly respectable man, was ordained in his stead.

In March the emperor went on campaign against the Arabs
accompanied by the patrician Staurakios and other friends of his
mother as well as 20,000 lightly armed men picked from all the te-
mata. The supporters of Staurakios, being aware of the ardour of the
army and of the emperor, were afraid lest he prove victorious in war
and they fail in their plot against him. So they bribed the scouts and
caused them to lie that the Saracens had departed.* The emperor, for
his part, was much saddened and returned to the City empty-
handed. On 1 May his son Leo died and he wept bitterly over him.

On 17 July, indiction 5,> a Thursday, when the emperor, after a
racing contest, crossed to St Mamas, [the officers] of the sagmata
(whom his mother had won over) went after him so as to catch him.

But he learnt of this, embarked on his chetandion, and crossed to
Pylai intending to seek refuge in the mema of the Anatolics. He was
accompanied, without his knowledge, by his mother's friends. His
wife also journeyed as far as Triton.° His mother's friends who
accompanied him took counsel and said among themselves, ‘If an
army is gathered by him, it will no longer be possible to subdue him.
We shall not escape his notice and he will destroy us.' His mother,
for her part, assembled in the palace of Eleutherios the officers of the
tagmata Whom she had won over and then entered the imperial
palace. When she had learnt that the army was collecting round the
emperor, she was greatly frightened and considered sending a dele-
gation of bishops to him to receive a promise of safety and then sit
quietly in a corner. She also wrote secretly to her friends who were
with him, ‘Unless you find some way of handing him over, I intend
to disclose to the emperor your agreements with me.’ Frightened,
they besieged him with their pleas’ and, after putting him on board
the chelandion, reached the City on Saturday morning, 15 August,°
and confined him to the Porphyra,? where he had been born. About

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Chronographia AM 62,05

the 9 th hour they blinded him in a cruel and grievous manner with
a view to making him die” at the behest of his mother and her advis-
ers. The sun was darkened for seventeen days and did not emit its
rays so that ships lost course and drifted about.” Everyone acknowl-
edged that the sun withheld its rays because the emperor had been
blinded. In this manner his mother Irene acceded to power.

IIIn the same year, too, the relatives of the blessed Pope Adrian in
Rome roused up the people and rebelled against Pope Leo, whom
they arrested and blinded.” They did not manage, however, to extin-
guish his sight altogether because those who were blinding him were
merciful and took pity on him. He sought refuge with Karoulos, king
of the Franks, who took bitter vengeance on his enemies’ and
restored him to his throne, Rome falling from that time onwards
under the authority of the Franks.1° Repaying his debt to Karoulos,
Leo crowned him emperor of the Romans in the church of the holy
apostle Peter after anointing him with oil from head to foot and
investing him with imperial robes and a crown on 25 December,
indiction 9.'*

" Cf. Mich. Syr. iii. 17 f. with almost word-for-word correspondence: 'A cette
epoque, il eut a Rome une grande sedition. lis se coaliserent contre leur patriarche
Adrianus [sic] et lui creverent les yeux, mais [pas] completement: parce que celui qui
fut charge de les lui crever usa de misericorde; alors il se retira chez les Francs, car a
cette epoque Rome etait sous la domination des Francs.’

‘ Evidently a mistake. The total length of Leo's reign is given as 16 years
under AM 6304 (that being his r6th year), but he is in his 17th year in AM
6305! In fact, Leo I] ruled from 27 Dec. 795 to 12 June 816.

* AD 796. 3 On 25 Dec. 79s, hence in AM 6288.

4 Tabari, Williams, ii. 221, reports two Arab raids this year, one as far as
Ancyra. Cf. AM 6290, n. 1.

> AD 797. 17 July actually fell on a Monday.

° Probably corresponding to modern Armutlu at the mouth of the gulf of
Gemlik. See our remarks in DOP 22 (1968), 173 n. 14; L. Robert, JSav 1979:
282 ff.

’ The wording is unclear (eKparrjaav avTOv els TrapaKXrjaLv), rendered by
Anast. as fenuerunt eum ad pieces.

8 Note that Avyovarou is dB's correction of avrov (that is July) of the
MSS. 15 Aug. was a Tuesday. Probably Saturday the 19th is meant. Cf.
P. Grierson, pop 16 (1962), 54 f. Constantine's blinding in August (not July)
is confirmed by Kteinchionik, 2. 17, P. 49.

° On this building (mentioned here for the first time), in which imperial
princes were born, see Ebersolt, Grand Palais, 148-9; G. Dagron, TM 12
(1994), 105 ff.

© Tt is unclear whether he died soon thereafter or lived on into the early
years of the next century. The only evidence for the latter alternative is a

649

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AM. 62,98 Chionogiaphia

rather dubious story to the effect that, soon after his accession (802),
Nikephoros befriended the unfortunate Constantine, not out of compassion,
but to make him reveal the location of a treasure that had been hidden under
a marble revetment in the palace. See Kedr. ii. 31 (fullest version); Leo
gramm. 202; Zon. iii. 304. Another story (Geo Mon. cont. 809) alleges that
Constantine lived for a time (we are not told how long) in a mansion called
ta Isidorou, Which was then turned into a nunnery by his widow. For the
problem see E. W. Brooks, sz 9 (1900), 654-7, “ho establishes that
Constantine had certainly died by 805.

“ There was a total eclipse on 20 Feb. 798 and another on 16 Aug. The
latter would have been on the first anniversary of the emperor's blinding.

” Tn fact, on 25 Apr. 799. See esp. Lib. Pont ii. 4. The primicerius Pascal,
the main mover of the plot, was Pope Adrian's nephew. Theoph. is correct
in stating that the attempt to blind Leo was not completely successful. See
Duchesne's comment ad loc., p. 36 n. 23.

Either owing toa small lacuna in the text or because of careless abbre-
viation, there is an awkward change of subject: o Se [Leo] 7Tpoo<f>vy<hv ra
priyl rtov opayyu>v KapovXai, rijfj.vvato [Charles] Tovs eOpovs avTov *mKpcas
Kai TraXiv a7T£KaTeoTrJo€v avrov, etc.

“ This is a cast forward. See below, AM 6293. Theoph. is confused in say-
ing that Charlemagne was anointed by the pope. That ritual act was carried
out over his eldest son, Charles. See si. Pon. ii. 7. 27 and Duchesne's note,
p. 38 n. 34. Unction was not a part of the Byzantine coronation ceremony.

[am 6290, ad 797/8]

Irene, for the second time empress of the Romans (5 years), 1st year
Aaron, 13 thyear

Leo, 2nd year

Tarasios, 14th year

In this year Irene, after seizing power, immediately sent Dorotheos,
abbot of Chrysopolis, and Constantine, chartophylax of the Great
Church, to Abimelech, who was devastating the regions of
Cappadocia and Galatia,’ asking him for peace, but peace was not
made.

In the month of October some troublemakers persuaded the sons
of God's enemy Constantine, who were confined to the palace of
Therapeia,” to seek refuge in the Great Church on the pretext of ask-
ing a guarantee of their future safety so as, by means of this excuse,
to proclaim one of them emperor. When a great crowd had collected
in the church, the patrician Aetios, the eunuch, went in and, while
no one was paying attention to them, brought them out by means of
a promise and banished them to Athens. Now the two patricians,
Staurakios and Aetios, both bosom friends of the empress, fell out

650

Chronographia AM62,05

with each other to the extent of showing their enmity in public.
Both aimed at securing the Empire for their own relatives after her

death.

" According to Tabari, Williams, ii. 221, 'Abd al-Malik b. Salih reached
Ancyra in AH 181 (5 Mar. 797-21 Feb. 798): Brooks, 'Abbasids', 741; me 2:
230.

. > On the European shore of the Bosporus (modern Tarabya): Janin, ce,
481.

[am 6291, ad 798/9]

Irene, 2nd year
Aaron, 14th year
Leo, 3rd year
Tarasios, 15th year

In this year Abimelech made an expedition against the Roman coun-
try. Sending out a raiding party of lightly armed men, he advanced as
far as Malagina.’ He fell on the stables of Staurakios and, after tak-
ing the horses and the imperial herd,* returned unharmed. Others
went as far as Lydia and took many captives.*? Another Arab party
sallied forth and fell on Paul, patrician and comes of Opsikion, who
was with his whole ema and the Optimati, and made a great
slaughter of them. After taking their camp equipment, that party
also withdrew.

In the month of March of the 7th indiction* Akameros, chieftain
of the Sklavinians of Velzetia,’? prompted by the Helladics, planned
to bring Constantine's sons out of confinement and appoint one of
them emperor. On being informed of this, the empress Irene sent to
the patrician Constantine Serantapechos his son Theophylaktos,
who was a spatharios and her own nephew, and he blinded all of
them and stamped out their plot against her.°

On the Monday of holy Easter the empress processed from the
church of the Holy Apostles,’ riding in a golden chariot drawn by
four white horses and held® by four patricians, namely Bardanes,
strategos Of the Thrakesians, Sisinnios, strategss of Thrace,’
Niketas, domestic of the Schools, and Constantine Boilas,° and she
distributed largess in abundance. In the month of May the empress
fell ill to the point of death and the rivalry between the eunuchs was
intensified. Aetios won over Niketas, the patrician and domestic of
the Schools, and they strenuously opposed Staurakios, even suggest-
ing to the empress that he was aiming at the throne. In her anger she
belaboured him severely in the palace of Hiereia saying that he was

651

474

AM 62,98 Chionogiaphia

an instigator of unrest and sedition and was preparing his own hasty
destruction. He, for his part, offered apologies to her and took mea-
sures to protect himself, furious as he was at the aforesaid patricians
Aetios and Niketas.

* It was on this occasion that the monks of Sakkoudion had to flee to
Constantinople: V. Theod Std. 1, 257D f., Vita Il, 144D.

* rfiv {Saoi\iKr]v -npoj-ioaiWav. Cf. cer. 461 and Reiske's note, ii. 500.

3 Tabari, Williams, ii. 222, AH 182 (798/9), records an expedition of 'Abd
al-Rahman b. ‘Abd al-Malik to Ephesos: Brooks, 'Abbasids', 741.

* ad 799.

> His name must have been Akamir. The mir. Dem, i. 175, in enumer-
ating various Slavonic tribes, distinguishes the BeAeye*rai from the
Bep“rjrai. Cf. Lemerle's commentary, ii. go. It is not clear which of the two
are meant here. They probably lived near the bayofVolos: see ms 1:41, 133.

®° The meaning is less than clear. It has been suggested that
Sarantapechos was strategos of Hellas. If so, was he one of the conspirators
and would Irene have sent his own son to blind him? Cf. Winkelmann,
Rangstruktur, 94.

7 The protocol for that procession is set down in ce. 49 ff., 80 ff.
Normally the emperor rode a richly caparisoned horse, not a chariot.

8 On ceremonial occasions it was customary for attendants to hold the
fInials of the chariot posts. Cf. Cer. 416. 16: Svo /COAXES CTXOAu>v Kparovai
TCI PIRJXA TT)S KAPOvxAS, with Reiske's note, ii. 430 f. Alternatively, the four
patricians might have held the bridles of the four horses.

° Sisinnios Triphyllios, brother of Niketas, repeatedly mentioned below.

* A name of Bulgarian origin. St loannikios is described as being a mem-
ber of the same family, although his father was a farmer: Vv. foannic. by
Sabas, 338A. Cf. Winkelmann, Quellenstudien, 150 f., 181 f., S. Vryonis,
DOP 11 (1957), 273 ff; H. Ditten in Studien & u. 9. Jh, 100 ff.

[am 6292, ad 799/800]

Irene, 3rd year
Aaron, 15th year
Leo, 4th year
Tarasios, 16 th year

In this year, in the month of February, indiction 8,’ the aforesaid
Staurakios was busy preparing a usurpation and a rebellion in the
Imperial City by bribing with money and gifts the resident scholarii
and excubitors, including their officers. For her part, the pious Irene
called a silentium in Justinian's Hall* and forbade all men in gov-
ernment service to approach Staurakios. In this way some slight
order was introduced into the situation, while the aforesaid Aetios

652

Chionographia AM 6293

and Niketas and a few others strove against Staurakios. The latter,
being struck in his heart, emitted from his mouth a bloody froth that
came from the organs around his chest and lungs. On seeing this, the
physicians pronounced it to be fatal, but the other senseless flatter-
ers, not only physicians, but also some false monks and magicians
affirmed to him under oath until the very day of his death (which
occurred in June of the same 8th indiction, on a Tuesday) that he
would live and become emperor. Relying on them, he instigated a
revolt against Aetios in the provinces of Cappadocia,’ but did not
live to hear the news since word of it came two days after his death.
The rebels were arrested and suffered exile and punishment.

" AD 800. * See AM 6186.

3 \v Tat? KamraSoKiais, perhaps with reference to the old division of
Cappadocia into three provinces, which persisted in ecclesiastical organiza-
tion.

[am 6293, ad 800/01]

Irene, 4th year
Aaron, 16 th year
Leo, 5 th year
Tarasios, 17th year

In this year, on 25 December, indiction 9, Karoulos, king of the
Franks, was crowned by Pope Leo.’ He intended to make a naval
expedition against Sicily, but changed his mind and decided instead
to marry Irene.* To this end he sent ambassadors the following year,
indiction 10.7

In March of the gth indiction the pious Irene remitted the civic
taxes for the inhabitants of Byzantium and cancelled the so-called
komerkia of Abydos and Hieron.* She was greatly thanked for these
and many other liberalities.

* Charlemagne's coronation, which is dated correctly, has already been
mentioned with a little more detail under AM 6289.

* The historicity of this statement has been accepted by most historians,
although its interpretation has been endlessly debated. See e.g. Ohnsorge,
Okzident, 64 ff., Speck, Konstantin VI, 327 ff. Charlemagne was widowed
in the summer of 800.

3 AD 801/2.

* We have translated eKovtfuaep as ‘cancelled’ rather than ‘reduced’
(for the ambiguity cf. AM 6287) in the light of Theod. Stud. ¢ 7, who pre-
sents, admittedly in highly rhetorical terms, a picture of much wider fiscal

653

475

AM62,98 Chionogiaphia

exemptions than does Theoph. Theodore speaks of dues collected not only
on sea-borne traffic, but also on roads and at narrow passes, of exactions
imposed on fishermen, hunters, and a long list of artisans and petty traders.
Cf. Bury, ERE, 3; N. Oikonomides in V. Kravari et al, eds. Hommes et
richesses. dans I'Empire byzantin, ii (Paris, 1991), 242. The custom-houses
of Abydos and Hieron, the latter on the upper Bosporus, controlled maritime
traffic reaching Constantinople. For the reimposition of the tax by
Nikephoros I see below, AM 6302.

[am 6294, ad 801/2]

Irene, 5th year
Aaron, 17thyear
Leo, 6 th year
Tarasios, 18 th year

In this year the patrician Aetios, being rid of Staurakios and feeling
secure, strove to confer the Empire on his brother’ whom he
appointed monostrategos of Thrace and Macedonia,” while he him-
self was in control of the Asiatic themata, namely the Anatolics and
Opsikion. Being filled with pride, he humiliated dignitaries in posi-
tions of authority and took no account of them. They, for their part,
being much aggrieved at him, planned a revolt against the empress
and put it into effect. There also arrived the emissaries sent by
Karoulos and Pope Leo? to the most pious Irene asking her to marry
Karoulos and so unite the eastern and western parts. She would have
consented had she not been checked by the oft-mentioned Aetios
who ruled by her side and was usurping power on behalf of his
brother.

" Called Leo (see below, p. 655).
> The tema of Macedonia is mentioned here for the first time. Cf.

Oikonomides, Listes, 349.
3 The dispatch of this embassy in 802 is confirmed by the Frankish
annals. It was headed by bishop Jesse of Amiens and Count Helmgaud. See

Ohnsorge, Okzident, 75.

[am 6295, ad 802/3]

Nikephoros, emperor of the Romans (9 years), 1st year
Aaron, 18 thyear

Leo, 7th year

Tarasios, 19th year

654

Chronographia AM 62,05

In this year, on 31 October of the nth indiction,’ at the 4th hour of
the night as Monday was about to dawn, Nikephoros,’ the patrician
and logothete of the genikon, rebelled against the most pious Irene
(God, in His inscrutable judgement having permitted this because of
the multitude of our sins). He was aided by Niketas, patrician and
domestic of the Schools, and the latter's brother, the patrician
Sisinnios—the two Triphyllioi, deceitful perjurers that they were.
These were also joined by the patrician Leo Serantapechos,’ the
patrician Gregory (son of Mousoulakios), the patrician Theoktistos
(the quaestor), and the patrician Peter,* who had also suborned some
officers of the tagmata. Arriving at the so-called Chalke (gate), they
quickly tricked the guards by convincing them that they had been
sent by the empress to proclaim the same Nikephoros emperor
because the patrician Aetios was forcing her to proclaim his own
brother Leo. The guards gave credence to this egregious lie and
joined in proclaiming the usurper emperor. Thus the patricians
entered the Great Palace and from there they sent throughout the
City some insignificant people and slaves to make the proclamation
before midnight. They also placed a guard round the palace of
Eleutherios, where the empress happened to be. At day-break they
sent for her and confined her in the Great Palace. Thereupon they
processed to the Great Church to crown the wretch. All the populace
of the City gathered together and everyone was displeased by what
was happening and cursed both him who was crowning? and him
who was being crowned and those who approved of these actions.
Men who lived a pious and reasonable life wondered at God's judge-
ment, namely how He had permitted a woman who had suffered like
a martyr on behalf of the true faith to be ousted by a swineherd and
that her closest friends should have joined him out of cupidity, I
mean Leo of Sinope (who was patrician and sakellarios),° and the
accursed Triphyllioi, and the above-mentioned patricians who had
been enriched by her many liberalities, who had often dined at her
table, and had assured her through flattery and under terrible oaths
that they considered her goodwill more essential than anything else
in the world. Others, as if in ecstasy, felt that what was happening
was not real and thought they were dreaming. Others again, who
were capable of making reasonable forecasts, lauded the prosperity
that had gone by and bewailed the misery that was about to occur on
account of the usurpation, especially those who had had some pre-
vious experience of the usurper's evil disposition. A general gloom
and inconsolable sadness gripped everyone—not to prolong my
account by giving in detail the ugly description of that miserable
day. Even the weather, contrary to nature, suddenly became on that

655

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AM62,98 Chionogiaphia

day gloomy and lightless, filled with implacable cold in the autum-
nal season, clearly signifying the man's future surliness and unbear-
able oppression, especially towards those who had chosen him.

The next day, taking along some of the patricians, he went up to
the imprisoned empress, simulating, as was he wont, a spurious
benignity through which, indeed, he had deceived nearly everyone.
He offered his excuses to her, namely that he had been elevated
against his will to the throne for which he had no desire, and he
cursed the men who had raised him up while plotting against her
(just as Judas had betrayed the Lord after dining with Him); indeed,
he testified that they had imitated Judas in all respects. Showing also
his black buskins, he affirmed that he liked to wear them contrary
to imperial custom. Deceitfully he urged her under oath to have no
misgivings about her every bodily comfort, such as a mistress might
expect from her servant, and not to consider her fall a misfortune. He
also urged her not to conceal from him any of the imperial treasures
and condemned the vice of avarice which he himself was unable to
contain: for he was terribly afflicted with it, all-devourer that he
was, and placed all his hopes in gold. For her part, the wise and God-
loving Irene, though she ought to have been overwhelmed by the
misfortune of her sudden change (especially since she was a woman),
said with a brave and prudent mind to him, who but yesterday had
been a perjured slave and today was an evil, rebellious, and impudent
usurper:

‘For my part, my good man, I consider God [my helper and
avenger]’ who raised me when aforetime I had been left an orphan
and elevated me, unworthy though I was, to the imperial throne.
The cause of my downfall I attribute to myself and to my sins and |
cry out, "In all things and in every manner may the name of the Lord
by praised—the only King of kings and Lord of lords." The manner
of your elevation I also ascribe to the Lord, without whom, I am con-
vinced, nothing can happen. You are not unaware of the rumours
against you—true ones, as the consummation of the events has
proved—that have often been referred to me concerning the dignity
with which you are now invested. Had I been carried away by them,®
I could have put you to death without hindrance. But, partly because
I trusted your oaths, partly in order to spare you, I disregarded many
of my well-wishers, in this case, too, referring my affairs to God,
through whom kings reign and the mighty rule the earth." So now,
too, inasmuch as you are pious and have been appointed by Him, I
do obeisance to you as to an emperor and I beseech you to spare my
weakness and to allow me the mansion of Eleutherios that I have
built to console me of my incomparable misfortune.’

656

Chronographia AM 6295

He replied: 'If you wish this to happen, swear to me by all the
heavenly powers not to conceal any part of the imperial treasures,
and I will fulfil your request and do everything for your comfort and
repose.’ She swore to him upon the holy and life-giving cross, saying:
‘I will not conceal anything from you, down to the last penny'—
which, indeed, she did. He, however, having gained what he desired,
straight away exiled her to the island of Prinkipos, to the monastery
which she had built,? and this while the ambassadors of Karoulos
were still in the City and observed what was happening.

So when this universal devourer had seized power, he was unable
even for a short time to hide by means of dissimulation his innate
wickedness and avarice; nay, pretending to be about to eradicate
injustice, he set up that evil and unjust tribunal at the Magnaura.
The usurper's purpose, as was proved by the events, was not to give
the poor their due, but by this means to dishonour and subjugate all
persons in authority and to gain personal control of everything,
which, indeed, he did.’° Being aware that all men were annoyed at
him and fearing that, mindful of the liberalities of the pious Irene,
they should invite her again to assume power, in the month of
November, while a severe winter was upon the land, the merciless
man, instead of pitying her, banished her to the island of Lesbos and
ordered that she be securely guarded and receive no visitors what-
ever."

On 30 April Niketas Triphyllios died, reportedly poisoned by
Nikephoros.

On 4 May, a Thursday, Nikephoros went to a suburban estate at
Chalcedon and, after mounting an extremely gentle and tame horse,
was, by God's providence, thrown off and bruised his right foot.

On 19 July, a Wednesday, at the first hour, Bardanes surnamed
Tourkos, the patrician and ssategos of the Anatolics,” was pro-
claimed emperor by the Asiatic smemata He strenuously declined
the office, but was unable to frustrate his men. Coming as far as
Chrysopolis, he toured about for eight days, but was not welcomed
by the inhabitants of the City and withdrew to Malagina. Filled with
the fear of God and reflecting that a massacre of Christians should
not occur on his account, he sent word to Nikephoros and received
a signed promise written in the latter's hand, wherein the most holy
patriarch Tarasios and all the patricians had also set down their sig-
natures, to the effect that he would remain unharmed and unpun-
ished together with all his companions. On 8 September he secretly
escaped at midnight to Kios in Bithynia and went to the monastery
of Herakleios.’ Finding the emperor's chetandion that had been dis-
patched for this purpose, he was tonsured and donned monastic garb.

657

479

AM 62,98 Chionogiaphia

Boarding the boat, he proceeded to the island called Prote, where he
had built a monastery, thinking that the impostor Nikephoros
would honour the awesome promise he had given him and not harm
him in any respect.’* The latter, however, denuded him in the first
place of his fortune and, seizing on an excuse, oppressed all the offi-
cers and landowners of the themata as well as some of the Imperial
City, whilst he left the army without pay. Who would be able to give
an adequate account of the deeds committed by him in those days by
God's dispensation on account of our sins?

On 9 August of the uth indiction” the empress Irene died in ban-
ishment on the island of Lesbos and her body was transferred to the
island of Prinkipos to the monastery which she had built.’

"Prov. 8: 15-16.

* AD 802.

? He is said to have been of Christian Arab descent: Tabari, Williams, ii.
260,- Mich. Syr. iii. 15; chr. 873, 196.

3 Of the same family as Constantine Sarantapechos (AM 6291), hence
related to the empress.

"Sy. CP 791. 35 ff. contains a highly unlikely account of a Peter the
patrician, who lived in the reign of Irene, was promoted domestic of the
Schools, was miraculously delivered from Bulgaria [in 811], and lived on
incognito as an exemplary monk for another 42 years. Cf. Introduction,
p. Ix.

> The patriarch Tarasios.

° Surnamed Klokas according to Kedr. ii. 29. A correspondent of
Theodore the Studite /epp. 86, 293, 400, 478, 521, written between 815 and
826). Also mentioned in V. foamic. by Peter, 425C. Cf. Winkelmann,
Quellenstudien, 157.

7 The words ovWy-n-Topa Kal sxsix.rmv absent from the text of Theoph.,
may be restored from V. Irenes, 24. Leo gramm. 201. 15 has geov evepyeT-qv
rjyovpLa t.

8 A biblical reminiscence (et owa-nrix®)'- “f- Gal. 2: 13; 2 Pet. 3: 17.

° See Introduction, p. xiv.

"© The tribunal of the Magnaura appears to have been concerned mostly
with fiscal matters. N. Oikonomides, ZRVI 26 (1987), 18, sees it in the con-
text of the establishment of a system of proportional taxation, which did not
benefit the poor greatly whilst weighing heavily on the rich.

“Mich. Syr. iii. 12 f. alleges that Irene and Aetios tried to have
Nikephoros killed by some monks. When the attempt failed, Irene was
exiled to Athens (sic), but Nikephoros did no harm to Aetios, who had done
him a service earlier. There may be some element of truth in this story, as
already surmised by Bury, ERE, 7. It is certainly worthy of note that
Theoph., too, reports no measures taken by Nikephoros against Aetios,
potentially a dangerous rival.

658

Chronographia AM 62,05

* According to Theoph. Cont. 6, Nikephoros had appointed him sole
commander of five Asiatic themata. His seals with the titles of strategos of
the Thrak[esians] and of the Anatolics in Zacos-Veglery, i/2, nos. 1750A-B.
Bardanes, probably an Armenian, was closely related to the future emperor
Leo V. See our remarks in aus 7 (1983), 400 n. 17.

3 On which see Janin, Grands centres, 152-3.

‘4 This is a somewhat slanted account of the revolt of Bardanes, which is
also related by Theoph. Cont. 8-10, Georg. Mon. 772, Genesios, 6-8, and
other sources. The revolt was ostensibly in support of the exiled Irene:
Syn, Vetus, C. 153. See Bury, ERE, 10-13; Treadgold, Revival, 131-2; S.
Mavromati-Koutsogiannopoulou, Bv’avTiva, 10 (1980), 203-15; J. Gouillard,
™ 10 (1987), 5-

® AD 803. Same date in Kleinchronik, 2. 19, Pp. 49.

© According to v. 1 mes, 27, she was buried in a ‘new sarcophagus’ in the
chapel of St Nicholas, on the left side of the monastery church, the latter
being dedicated to the Theotokos. These indications should be added to the
notice of the monastery in Janin, Grands centres, 68-9. Irene's sarcophagus,
made of Proconnesian marble, may have been later transported to the
church of the Holy Apostles, where it is mentioned in the list of imperial
tombs: cer. 645. 16.

[am 6296, ad 803/4]

Nikephoros, 2nd year
Aaron, 19 th year

Leo, 8 th year
Tarasios, 20th year

In this year, in the month of December of the 12th indiction,’
Nikephoros crowned his son Staurakios emperor in the ambo of the
Great Church, the most holy patriarch Tarasios officiating, although
Staurakios was in all respects unsuitable for this office—in appear-
ance, vigour, and temperament. Nikephoros, who had never
respected truth in any matter, sent certain Lykaonians or rather
werewolves’ who shared his opinions and persuasions to Prote. He
bade them disembark on the island at night and blind the aforemen-
tioned Bardanios and, after the deed, as if he was unaware of it, to
seek refuge in a church. When this had been done, the patriarch, the
Senate, and all God-fearing people were greatly distressed. As for the
unrighteous emperor Nikephoros, who always acted for show and
never according to God, he swore to the dignitaries that he had
known nothing about it, and seemingly sought to slay the
Lykaonians,’ pretending to be taking vengeance on them. For he
had, in addition to his other iniquities, also this peculiar trait of
character, by means of which he had deceived many men even before

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AM62,98 Chionogiaphia

he had become emperor. To those, however, who clearly saw the
trick he appeared ridiculous in that this man whose foul face was
constantly clouded by impudence on this occasion remained for
seven days confined to the imperial chamber,* whimpering deceit-
fully. Indeed, he had a natural faculty for a woman's tears, such as
many low persons and faux bonhommes possess. He did not, how-
ever, deceive the majority of people.

In the month of August he made an expedition against the Arabs,
whom he encountered at Krasos in Phrygia’ and was defeated in bat-
tle. He lost many men and was himself on the point of being cap-
tured, had not some of the bravest officers managed with difficulty
to deliver him from danger.°

" AD 803, perhaps on Christmas Day.

* A pun (AvKaovas Tivas, rj XvKavdpdjTrovs)* The identity of these
Lykaonians is not made clear, and Theoph. Cont. 10. 4 is equally vague (xcu
rives Tu)v €k Trjs AvKaovias). Inthe gth cent. Lykaonia formed a turmarchy
under the strategos of the Anatolics: Oikonomides, Listes, 55, 149. Cf. W.
Treadgold, GRBS 21 (1980), 272, 283. The Lykaonians mentioned here were
presumably soldiers of the turmarch, but their presence at Constantinople
is not explained. Further down (p. 671) Theoph. speaks of heretical
Athinganoi being prevalent in Lykaonia.

3 We accept the reading of cod. S, namely opxois tow ev reAei (eWide
firjSev elSevcu, Tovs Se) avkaovcs, etc., which dB relegates to the apparatus.

4 dB adds (em) tov fiaoiXiKov xoLtwos, but the addition is unnecessary.

> Cf. above, AM 6233.

° For the encounter, in the course of which Nikephoros is said to
have been wounded three times and 40,700 Byzantines slain, see
Tabari, Williams, ii. 266. Cf. Brooks, 'Abbasids', 744; M. Canard, Byz 32

(1962,), 355-

[am 6297, ad 804/5]

Nikephoros, 3rd year
Aaron, 2oth year
Leo, 9 th year
Tarasios, 21st year

In this year, because of an insurrection in Persia,’ the leader of the
Arabs went thither to quell it. Taking this opportunity, Nikephoros
rebuilt Ancyra in Galatia, Thebasa, and Andrasos.” He also sent a
raiding party into Syria which returned without achieving any suc-
cess, indeed after losing many men.?

660

Chionographia AM 6293

* An overstatement. Harun was obliged to proceed to Rayy in Persia to
deal with the injustice of All b. "Isa, whom he had himself appointed gover-
nor of Khurasan. See Tabari, Williams, ii. 267 ff.

* Cf. Mich. Syr. iii. 16. See M. Canard, loc. cit., for Ancyra, C. Foss, pop
31 (1977], 77. The situation of Andrasos (in Cappadocia) is unknown: 72 2:
141.

3 The expedition was to Cilicia, not Syria. The Byzantines devastated the
areas of Mopsuestia and Anazarbos and made captives at Tarsos: Mich. Syr.
iii. 16, misdated AG rrr5. Tabari, Williams, ii. 273 f., places this expedition
in AH 190 (28 Nov. 805-16 Nov. 806).

[am 6298, ad 805/6]

Nikephoros, 4th year

Aaron, 21st year

Leo, 10 thyear

Nikephoros, bishop of Constantinople (9 years),' 1st year

In this year, on 25 February of the 14th Indiction,* Tarasios, the most
holy patriarch of Constantinople, died a glorious death. His remains
were conveyed to the straits of the Black Sea on Wednesday of the
first week of Lent and buried in the monastery he had built.* On 12
April, which was Easter Sunday, the most holy Nikephoros, a former
a secretis, WaS ordained patriarch by the votes of all the people, the
clergy, and the emperors as well. Platon and Theodore, abbots of the
monastery of Studios, did not approve of the ordination of
Nikephoros; indeed, having planned a schism, they showed strong
opposition on the seemingly plausible excuse that a layman ought
not to be immediately promoted to a bishopric. The emperor
Nikephoros wished to expel them from the City, but was restrained
by certain persons who advised him that the patriarch's ordination
would not be commended if it were accompanied by the expulsion
of the aforesaid men and the dissolution of so great a monastery, see-
ing that about 700 monks were placed in Theodore's obedience.
Besides, what had been done was not alien to the Church nor was it
a recent invention, since many other laymen had become bishops
and ministered unto God in a manner worthy of their dignity.*

In the same year Aaron, the leader of the Arabs, invaded the
Roman country with a great force composed of Maurophoroi,
Syrians, Palestinians, and Libyans, in all 300,000. Having come to
Tyana, he built a house of his blasphemy.’ He captured after a siege
the fort of Herakles,° which was very strong, as well as Thebasa,
Malakopea,’ Sideropalos,® and Andrasos. He sent a raiding contin-
gent of 60,000 which penetrated as far as Ancyra and withdrew after

661

AM 62,98 Chionogiaphia

reconnoitring it. Seized by fright and perplexity, the emperor
Nikephoros set out also in a state of despair, exhibiting the courage
that comes from misfortune. After winning many trophies, he sent
to Aaron the metropolitan of Synada,’ Peter, abbot of Goulaion,”®
and Gregory, oikonomos of Amastris, to ask for peace. After lengthy
negotiations they concluded peace on the terms that a tribute of
30,000 nomismata would be paid to the Arabs each year and a capi-
tation tax of 3 nomismata on behalf of the emperor and another 3 on
behalf of his son.” On accepting these terms, Aaron was pleased and
overjoyed, more than he would have been had he received ten thou-
sand talents, because he had subjugated the Roman Empire. They
also stipulated that the captured forts should not be rebuilt.” When
the Arabs had withdrawn, however, Nikephoros immediately
rebuilt and fortified the same forts. On being informed of this, Aaron
sent out a force and, once again, took Thebasa.* He also dispatched
a fleet to Cyprus, destroyed the churches there, deported the
Cypriots, and, by causing much devastation, violated the peace
treaty.

" The length of his tenure must have been added after Mar. 815.

* AD 806. All the Greek MSS give the 25th, which dB has altered to the
18th on the strength of Anast. (duodecimo kalendas Martias). The 25th is
confirmed by Syn cp 487 and Typicon, i. 240. V. Taras, 421. 19 gives the
25 th (which corresponds to Wednesday of the first week of Lent) as the date
of his funeral.

3 On the European side of the Bosporus. See Janin, E£glises, 481-2.

* On these events see Alexander, Nicephorus, 65 ff.

> ice. a mosque. The figure of 300,000 is probably exaggerated. Tabari,
Williams, ii. 274, speaks of an army of 135,000 regular soldiers, not count-
ing volunteers, etc.

° See Canard, a: 32 (1962), 356 ff. The fort in question is Herakleia
Kibotos, which fell in August (so Tabari). See me 2: 188 f.

7 Modern Derinkuyu (formerly Melegiibii): ms 2: 227.

8 Situation unknown: mg 2: 277.

° Michael, attested as bishop between 787 and 815, died in 826. See
J. Pargoire, zo 4 (1900-1), 347~50.

*© Situation unknown, possibly in Bithynia: Janin, Grands centres,
141-2. Peter must be the unnamed Goulaiates, mentioned by Theod. Stud.
ep. 222. 9 as a partisan of the oikonomos Joseph (AD 816).

“50,000 dinars, 4 being for the emperor and 2 for his son according to
Tabari, Williams, ii. 275.

* Only Herakleia according to Tabari, Williams, ii. 276.

3 There is no confirmation of this in the Arabic sources. Cf. Treadgold,

Revival, 408 Nn. 193.
“4 Tabari, ibid., reports the deportation of 16,000 Cypriots to Raqqa.

662

Chronographia AM 62,05

[am 6299, ad 806/7]

Nikephoros, 5 th year
Aaron, 22nd year
Leo, nth year
Nikephoros, 2nd year

In this year Nikephoros made an expedition against the Bulgarians.
When he had come to Adrianople, he became aware that a revolt
against hiqa was being planned by imperial officials and by the sg-
mata and so he returned empty-handed, having achieved nothing
except vengeance on his fellow-countrymen, many of whom he pun-
ished by scourging, exile, and confiscation. He also sent the spathar-
ios Bardanios surnamed Anemas to round up all the refugees and
aliens’ and convey them’ to Thrace, thinking that he would obtain
from them a considerable amount of gold by way of annual taxes—
this man who did everything for the gold he loved and not for Christ.

' navTa TTpoarjXvTov kcli__v-dpoiKov. Judging by the context, the term
paroikos is used here in its biblical sense, not that of colonus or dependent
peasant as under AM 6302.

* The verb ivepaoev indicates that the immigrants were brought from
Asia Minor. They may have included the prisoners exchanged with the
Arabs in 805: Tabari, Williams, ii. 271.

[am 6300, ad 807/8]

Nikephoros, 6th year
Aaron, 23rd year

Leo, 12 th year
Nikephoros, 3rd year

In this year, in the month of September of the first indiction,’ Aaron,
the leader of the Arabs, sent Choumeid” at the head of a fleet against
Rhodes. This man sailed straight to Rhodes and, on arriving there,
carried out much devastation, but the fort that is there remained
uncaptured. On his return journey he was manifestly worsted by the
holy wonder-worker Nicholas. For when he had come to Myra and
attempted to break his sacred tomb, he smashed instead another one
that stood near by.? Thereupon a great disturbance of sea waves,
thunder, and lightning fell upon the fleet so that several ships were
broken up and the impious Choumeid himself acknowledged the
saint's power and unexpectedly escaped the danger.

On 20-December, after making an extensive selection of maidens

663

AM 6300 Chionographia

from all the domains subject to him with a view to marrying his son
Staurakios, Nikephoros chose the Athenian Theophano, a
kinswoman of the blessed Irene, although she was betrothed to
another man and had lain with him many times.* Acting in this
respect with the same unlawful impudence as in all others, he sepa-
rated her from her man and wed her to the wretched Staurakios. He
also selected along with her another two maidens who were more
beautiful than her and openly violated them during the very days of
the wedding, while everyone ridiculed the detestable man.

In the month of February many officials planned a revolt against
him and conferred their choice on the quaestor and patrician
Arsaber,? a pious and cultivated man. But when the resourceful
Nikephoros had been informed of this, he had him scourged and ton-
sured and having made him a monk, exiled him to Bithynia, whilst
the others he punished with lashes, banishment, and confiscation,
not only secular dignitaries, but also holy bishops and monks and
the clergy of the Great Church, including the synkellos,° the sakel-
larios, and the chartophylax, men of high repute and worthy of
respect.

* AD 807.

* Humaid b. Ma'yuf, governor of the coast of Syria, who had carried out
the raid on Cyprus. The attack on Rhodes is not mentioned in the Arabic
sources. Cf. Treadgold, Revival, 148.

3 On the church of St Nicholas, still extant, though heavily rebuilt in the
1gth cent., see U. Peschlow in J. Borchardt, Myra: Eine lykische Metropole
(Berlin, 1975), 303 ff. The miracle related here must have helped to promote
the growing cult of the saint. Cf. N. P. Sevcenko, The Life of Saint Nicholas
in Byzantine Art (Turin, 1983), 20 ff.

* On the custom of imperial bride-shows see AM 6281, n. 3. We cannot fol-
low L. Ryden, Eranos, 83 (1985) 175-91, who considers them a literary fic-
tion. Tabari, Williams, ii. 275 f., alleges that Staurakios was betrothed to a
maiden of Herakleia, captured by Harun and ransomed by Nikephoros, who
wrote a letter to the Caliph requesting her return. An echo of the same story
in Mich. Syr. iii. 16: Harun built above Raqqa a city named Herakleia on
account of a woman of the family of Herakleios he had captured. For the
ruins of Hiraqla see Q. Tweir in syrie cottoque, 179-85.

> Perhaps the father of Theodosia, wife of Leo V. Cf. Alexander,
Nicephorus, 132 a 5.

° Cf. Introduction, p. lviii.

[am 6301, ad 808/9]

Nikephoros, 7th year
Mouamed, leader of the Arabs (4 years), 1st year’

664

Chronographia AM 62,05

Leo, 13th year
Nikephoros, 4th year

In this year Aaron, the leader of the Arabs, died in inner Persia,
called Chorasan, in the month of March, indiction 2.7 His son
Mouamed, who was incompetent in all respects, succeeded to
power, but his brother Abdelas? as well as his father's army revolted
against him in that same country of Chorasan and caused an
internecine war among their nation. For this reason the inhabitants
of Syria, Egypt, and Libya were divided into different principalities
and destroyed the common weal as well as one another, confounded
as they were by slaughter, rapine, and various misdeeds among
themselves and against their Christian subjects. For this reason also
the churches in the holy city of Christ our God were made desolate
as well as the monasteries of the two great lavras, namely that of Sts
Chariton and Kyriakos‘ and that of St Sabas, and the other koinobia,
namely those of St Euthymios® and St Theodosios.° The slaughter
resulting from this anarchy, directed at each other and against us,
lasted five years.’

Theodore, abbot of Studios, and his brother Joseph, the archbishop
of Thessalonica, along with the recluse Platon and their other
monks withdrew from communion with Nikephoros, the most holy
patriarch, on account of the oikonomos Joseph who had unlawfully
married Constantine and Theodote. Seizing this opportunity, the
emperor Nikephoros assembled many bishops and abbots and
ordered that a synod be held against them. By this means they were
expelled from their monastery and from the City and were banished
in the month of January of the second indiction.®

In the same year, while the army ofthe Strymon was receiving its
pay, the Bulgarians fell upon it and seized 1,100 lbs. of gold.?
They slaughtered many men together with their strategos and
officers. Many garrison commanders of the other themata were
present and all of them perished there. The Bulgarians took the
whole camp train and withdrew. Before Easter of the same year,
Kroummos, the leader of the Bulgarians, drew up his forces against
Serdica,” which he took by a deceitful capitulation and slaughtered
6,000 Roman soldiers, not counting the multitude of civilians.
Nikephoros pretended to be going on campaign against him on
Tuesday of the Saviour's Passion week,” but did not achieve any-
thing worthy of mention. When the officers who had escaped the
massacre requested from him a promise of immunity,” he refused
to give it and so forced them to desert to the enemy, among them the
spatharios Eumathios,* an expert in engines. To add to his great

665

AM62,98 Chionogiaphia

dishonour, Nikephoros tried to convince the Imperial City by means
of sworn sacrae that he had celebrated the feast of Easter in the
court’* of Kroummos. Wishing to rebuild captured Serdica, but fear-
ing the opposition of the host, he suggested to the strategoi and offi-
cers that they should persuade the rank and file to petition the
emperor for the rebuilding. The soldiers, however, understood that
the intrigue had been mounted by the emperor's ill-doing and
rebelled against him and their own officers at the 6th hour. They set
upon their officers’ tents and tore them down and, advancing to the
imperial [tent], cast many insults and curses upon him, swearing
that they could no longer suffer his infinite avarice and mischievous
character. Terrified by the sudden mutiny, he stood up from table
and at first, through the patricians Nikephoros and Peter, tried to
calm the army by means of oaths and plausible arguments. Desisting
somewhat, the wretches abandoned their course of action and with-
drew to a hill crying, ‘Lord, have mercy!’ as if it were an earthquake
or a drought. Always ready for evil deeds, the emperor deceived most
of the officers during the night by means of secret gifts and the next
morning he appeared himself among the soldiers and spoke to them,
assuring them under terrible oaths that they would enjoy all kinds
of plenty and that he would be equally solicitous towards their chil-
dren.” Straight away he made for the Imperial City, having directed
the patrician and promoskrinios”® Theodosios, surnamed Salibaras,
to identify the rebels by mutual admission. While the army was on
its way back, he pretended to be about to pay them, but instead pun-
ished most of them at St Mamas by lashes, tonsure, and exile, and
the rest he conveyed to Chrysopolis having transgressed his terrible
oaths. On account of their misfortune they called the Bosporus” the

‘river of fire’®

* Known as Al-Amin (Mar. 809-Sept. 813).

* 24 Mar. 809 at Tus. 3 Known as Al-Ma'mun (812-33).

4 Also called Souka or the Old Lavra, near Tekoa: Vailhe, 'Monasteres’,
1 524-5; Chitty, Desert, 14 f.

> Between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea: Vailhe, op. cit. 1. 533-4; Chitty,
Desert, 84 ff.

® Deir Dosi, between Bethlehem and St Sabas: Vailhe, m. 286-9; E-
Weigand, az 23 (1914), 167-216. 7 i.e. down to 814.

8 On the synod of 809 see Grumel, reg. 377-81; Alexander, Nicephorus,
g2 f., P. Henry, szs NS 20 (1969), 495-522.

° Treadgold, reviva, 157, calculates that this sum corresponded to the
pay of about 12,000 men.

666

Chronographia AM 62,05

3 Apr.

Meaning that they had neglected their duties at the capture of Serdica.
8 So dB following Anast.; Euthymios in the Greek MSS.

avX-fj, as always of Bulgarian encampments. It has been supposed that
Pliska was meant here, but see below, p. 676n. 17.

5 So understood by Anast. fac super aequali erga natos corum affectu).
Another possible translation would be ‘and that he loved them as much as
his children’.

« Primoscrinio OY primiscrinio in Anast. The office of primiscrinius does
not appear in Middle Byzantine lists.

‘7 nipa/xa, more exactly the crossing from Galata to Constantinople at
the mouth of the Golden Horn.

8 For all of its omissions, the above account of events in Bulgaria is
clearly due to an eyewitness. The informant may have been Theodosios
Salibaras, who appears in that capacity under AM 6303.

[am 6302, ad 809/10]

Nikephoros, 8th year
Mouamed, 2nd year
Leo, 14th year
Nikephoros, 5 th year

In this year Nikephoros, following the godless punishments [he had
meted out] and intent on humiliating the army altogether, removed
Christians from all the memam' and ordered them to proceed to the
Sklavinias” after selling their estates.* This state of affairs was no
less grievous than captivity: many in their folly uttered blasphemies
and prayed to be invaded by the enemy, others wept by their ances-
tral tombs and extolled the happiness of the dead; some even hanged
themselves to be delivered from such a sorry pass. Since their pos-
sessions were difficult to transport, they were in no position to take
them along and so witnessed the loss of properties acquired by
parental toil. Everyone was in complete distress, the poor because of
the above circumstances and those that will be recounted later on,
while the richer sympathized with the poor whom they were unable
to help and awaited heavier misfortunes. These measures were
started in the month of September and completed by holy Easter. In
addition, he ordered a second vexation, namely that poor people
should be enrolled in the army and should be fitted out by the inhab-
itants of their commune, also paying to the Treasury 18 nomis-
mata per man plus his taxes in joint liability.* His third evil
invention was that everyone was to be assessed? and everyone's
taxes were to be raised, with an additional payment of 2 keratia per

667

AM 62,98 Chionogiaphia

man for the paperwork.° The fourth measure he ordered was that all
remissions should be cancelled.’ The fifth was that the paroikoi® of
charitable foundations, of the Orphanage,’ of hostels, homes for the
aged, churches, and imperial monasteries’® should be charged the
hearth tax" counting from the first year of his usurpation, and that
their more important estates should be transferred to the imperial
demesne, whilst the rates due on them should be added to such
estates and paroikoi as were left to the charitable foundations, with
the result that many of them had their tax doubled whereas their
dwellings and rural holdings were reduced. The sixth measure was
that the strategoi should keep an eye on all who recovered quickly
from poverty and exact money from them as if they had found trea-
sure trove.” The seventh was that everyone who in the previous
twenty years had discovered any kind of jar or vessel should likewise
be deprived of their money.” The eighth was that poor people who
had received a divided inheritance from their fathers and grandfa-
thers should be taxed by the Treasury for the same period of twenty
years;* and that those who had bought household slaves outside
Abydos and especially in the Dodecanese” should pay an impost of
2 nomismata per head. The ninth was that the shipowners who lived
on the sea coast, especially that of Asia Minor, and who had never
practised agriculture should be forced to buy some of the estates he
had seized with a view to being assigned an assessment by him."°
His tenth measure was to convene the foremost shipowners of
Constantinople and give each a loan of 12 lbs. of gold at a rate of
interest of 4 keratia to the nomisma” on top of the usual custom
dues to which they were liable.

I have made a succinct and brief record of these actions—and they
are but a small part—in order to indicate this man's inventiveness in
all manner of greed. It would be impossible to describe the misfor-
tunes he inflicted in the Imperial City on dignitaries, on the mid-
dling folk, and the poor: in the case of some he inquired how they
lived at home and suborned malicious servants to denounce their
masters; and at first he would pretend to doubt their statements, but
later would accept the false accusations. In the same manner he used
lowly persons against persons of note and would confer honours on
those who made clever denunciations. Many occupiers of houses he
completely ruined from the first to the third generation in the hope
that they would quickly lose their title, which he would inherit.”
The following incident is worthy of note as an amusing example.
There was at the Forum a candle merchant’? who lived in plenty
thanks to his own exertions. The universal devourer summoned him
and said, 'Place your hand upon my head and swear to me how much

668

Chronographia AM 6302,

gold you have.’ The latter at first declined, pretending to be unwor-
thy [of such attention], but was forced by him to do so and admitted
that he possessed 100 lbs. The emperor ordered on the spot that the
sum be produced and said, "What need have you of so much worry?
Be my guest for lunch, take 10 Ibs.*° and go home satisfied with
what you have.

Mostly or exclusively those of Asia Minor. 'Christians' is equivalent to
‘Romans’.

* ive. the territories previously occupied by Slavonic tribes, mainly in
Macedonia and Greece. A specific instance of the resettlement of Sparta
with 'a mixed population, namely Kapheroi [converts to Christianity?],
Thrakesians, Armenians, and others from different places’ is given in the
Chronicle of Monemvasia, ed. P. Lemerle, res 21 (1963), 10 [cf. also p. 20).

3 On the ten 'vexations' of Nikephoros, comparable to the plagues of
Egypt, see Bury, ERE, 213-18; G. I. Bratianu, Etdes byzantines d'hist.
economique et sociale (Paris, 1938), 195-211; Aik. Christophilopoulou in
Els j.LVD)f§LTjv K. AfiavTov (Athens, i960), 413-31.

4 On the second vexation see Alexander, Nicephorus, 117-18; Lemerle,
Agr, History, 62-3. Both believe that the 18.4 nomismata represent the cost
of the soldiers' equipment. Strictly speaking, however, the text describes it
as an additional payment: 77poaera‘%e arpareveada1 TITU>XOVS Kai
eoirxXl‘eadai_ irapa cov ofio*opaiv, 7rapexovras [that is the tttujxoi, unless
one emends napexovras to 77apexovrcov, as suggested by dB] teal [in addition]
dvd OkKTcuKalSeKa_ rifuaovs vofuofxaTiuv tu> Srjfiooiq), etc. The principle of
joint liability for the payment of taxes was laid down in the Rural Code.

° inoTTTeveodai rravras, with reference to the eTroinai (inspectors) of the
Treasury. This indicates a new census. Cf. Treadgold, reviva, 150, who
thinks it may have been initiated in the new indictional cycle, that is from
r Sept. 807.

6 yaptlarikny inexa ava Keparlcov B) a flat charge of 1/12 of a nomisma
to defray administrative expenses.

7 This is ambiguous (rous Kov<fSiaf.wvs navras ava[3i(3al!,eo6ai), depending
on whether one understands Kovofxos as a total remission or a reduction.
In either case the tax was to be raised to its old amount. The exemptions
were those granted by Irene: above, AM 6293.

5 Herein the sense of coloni, a usage already attested in the 6th cent. See
Lemerle, Agr. Hist. 55-9; M. Kaplan, Les Hommes et la terre a_ Byzance
(Paris, 1992), 264 ff.

° At Constantinople, presumably the one attached to the church of Sts
Peter and Paul, on which see Janin, Z£glises, 399-400. It must have been
endowed with considerable estates in the provinces.

© Hence, strictly speaking, not all monasteries, but only ‘imperial’ ones
(probably those that were placed under imperial patronage). par 52, with
reference to the requisition of cavalry-horses in the Peloponnese (in 921),
distinguishes between imperial, patriarchal, and episcopal monasteries.

669

AM 62,98 Chionogiaphia

This is the earliest mention of the sapnikon, probably a tax levied on
households. See ops, 'Hearth tax’ and 'kapnikon'; Kaplan, op. cit. 547 f.

* This does not necessarily mean that treasure trove was to be surren-
dered to the State in its entirety, although such seems to have been the prac-
tice until it was reformed by Leo VI, no. 51. According to Justinianic law
treasure trove was divided between the discoverer and the owner of the land
if they happened to be different persons. Cf. C. Morrisson, TM 8 (1981),
321-43-

3 For eAapyvpileadai cf. Theod. Stud. ep. 7. 47: ovKen — -qneipwrai
e\apyvpLovrai dSiVaiy, 'no longer are land-dwellers plundered unjustly’.

‘4 The construction is extremely awkward owing to compression (TOUS eV
TTdTTTTajv Rs 7rar€pa)v KXrjpovop,rjoavras Siatpedevras, eV Tojv avrwy xpovujv_ k’
i£ava8i86vai roi Sr/PLOAUP, TOVS — TREVRJTAS). Anast.'s version [divisa substantia
pauperes facti fuerant) appears to point in the right direction.
Christophilopoulou, op. cit. 422 f, believes that the measure concerned
shared inheritances, whose individual portions fell below 50 soni, the lat-
ter being the accepted threshhold of ‘poverty’.

°° Meaning, presumably, the Aegean islands in general. Such slaves could
have been imported via the coast of Asia Minor without passing through the
custom house of Abydos.

© The clause ous av £KTip.rf8<i)oi is ambiguous and has usually been under-
stood to mean ‘at his own valuation’, referring to the confiscated estates. So
already Anast. (utcumgue appretiarentur ab ipso) and, eg., G. Ostrogorsky,
History of the Byzantine State, 2ndedn. (Oxford, 1968), 191. Some scholars
have also rendered naukteroi as 'sailors' or 'marines', meaning those of the
imperial navy, even though in the next sentence they are clearly shipown-
ers. We do not believe this measure had anything to do with ‘sailors’ prop-
erties’.

7 i.e. at a rate of 16.67%. As Bury, ere, 217 n. 1, observes, this does not
mean that shipowners were obliged to take a loan; rather, that if they needed
a loan, they could borrow only a fixed sum from the State at a particularly
high rate of interest. When usury was made legal again by Leo VI (.Nov. 83)
the rate was fixed at 4.17%.

'8 This must refer to leases limited to three generations. Such an arrange-
ment was common in emphyteutic leases of agricultural property (see
Kaplan, op. cit. 164 ff.), but here we seem to be dealing with housing at
Constantinople. It is not clear why the emperor should have inherited the
premises unless the houses in question belonged to the crown.

If we are not mistaken, ceruilari are first attested at Constantinople in
the 7th cent.: mir. Artem. 27. The anecdote related here shows that they
could make considerable profits.

*° "100 nomismata’ in most of the Greek MSS, which dB accepts. Anast.,
however, has tibras decern = 720 nomismata, and so does the Oxford MS
(AiVpas- i'): N. G. Wilson, pop 26 (1972), 360.

670

Chronogia phia AM 6303

[am 6303, ad 810/11]

Nikephoros, 9 th year
Mouamed, 3rd year
Leo, 15th year
Nikephoros, 6th year

In this year Nikephoros extended his designs against the Christians’
by way of an ungodly control over the purchase of all kinds of ani-
mals, cattle and produce, the unjust confiscations and fines imposed
upon prominent persons, and the exaction of interest on ships (he
who issued laws against usury!)* and a thousand other evil inven-
tions. To describe all of them in detail would appear tedious to those
who seek to learn events in a succinct form.

On 1 October, a Tuesday, a man of lowly station dressed as a
monk seized a sword belonging to someone in military service and
ran into the palace seeking to kill Nikephoros. Two of those who
were standing round rushed on him, but were grievously wounded
by him. When he had been arrested and tortured severely, he pre-
tended to be a demoniac and did not denounce anybody. The
emperor had him confined in stocks together with other madmen.
Many regarded this as a presage of great evil to come both to rulers
and to subjects, as had happened in the case of the impious
Nestorios.?

The emperor was an ardent friend of the Manichees (now called
Paulicians) and of his close neighbours,* the Athinganoi of Phrygia
and Lykaonia, and delighted in their prophecies and rites. Indeed, he
called them in when the patrician Bardanios rebelled against him
and subjugated him by means of their magic. For he tied an ox by the
horns to an iron stake in some sort of hollow and as the animal was
bent to the ground, bellowing and writhing, he had it slaughtered
and then ground the clothing of Bardanios in a mill with a contrary
motion and performed certain incantations. As a result, he won a
victory which God allowed because of the multitude of our sins.
Those heretics were given leave during his reign to enjoy the rights
of citizenship without fear so that many of the more frivolous kind
became corrupted by their illicit doctrines. At the Hexakionion,’
too, there was a false hermit called Nicholas who, together with his
companions, blasphemed against the true religion and the holy icons
and was defended by Nikephoros to the distress of the patriarch and
of all those who lived according to God. Indeed, he was vexed when
the patriarch on many occasions brought charges against those men,
for he greatly encouraged mutual hostility and railed at every
Christian who loved his neighbour, being as he was a subverter of

671

490

AM62,98 Chionogiaphia

the divine ordinances. He was also eager for good or bad cause to
institute proceedings against all Christians at the penal tribunal of
the Magnaura so that nobody should be free to censure his impious
deeds. He commanded military officers to treat bishops and clergy-
men like slaves, to lodge high-handedly in episcopal residences and
monasteries and abuse their goods. He censured those who from
olden times had dedicated to God gold or silver vessels and argued
that the sacred objects of churches should be made common, as
Judas had done in the case of the Lord's ointment." He blamed all the
emperors before him for having been incompetent and entirely
denied Providence by saying that no one was more powerful than the
ruler provided the latter was determined to exercise his authority
skilfully. But he was confounded in his imaginations,’ he whom
God was to slay.

In February of the same 4th indiction, on the first Saturday of
Lent® the Saracens surprised at Euchaita the strategos of the
Armeniacs, Leo, with the pay of his tema which they captured
along with a great number of soldiers.’ The amount was 13 talents,
that is 1,300 Ibs. Not even then did Nikephoros accept reproof by
desisting from his greed. Uncorrected by so many presages, the new
Ahab, who was more insatiable than Phalaris or Midas, took up arms
against the Bulgarians along with his son Staurakios. On * May,® as
he was departing from the Imperial City, he ordered the patrician
Niketas, the logothete of the genikon; to raise the taxes of
churches and monasteries and to exact eight years’ arrears’ from
the households of dignitaries. At this there was much lamentation.
One of his faithful servants, I mean the patrician Theodosios
Salibaras, complained to him, saying, ‘Everyone is clamouring
against us, O lord, and, in a time of temptation, will take pleasure in
our downfall.’ But he replied, 'If God has hardened my heart as He
hardened Pharaoh's,° what good can come to my subjects? Do not, O
Theodosios, expect from Nikephoros anything other than what you
see.’ The Lord is my witness that I, the author, heard these very
words from the mouth of Theodosios.” So, having gathered his
troops, not only from Thrace, but also from the Asiatic themata as
well as many poor men armed at their own expense with slings and
sticks (who were cursing him as did the soldiers), he advanced
against the Bulgarians. Frightened by this multitude which had
come to Markellai, Kroummos asked for peace. The emperor, how-
ever, by his own evil designs and the recommendation of his like-
minded advisers, refused. After making many detours through
impassable country the rash coward recklessly entered Bulgaria on
20 July” (the disastrous rising of the dog-star), frequently repeating

672

Chronographia AM 62,05

these words, 'Who will go and deceive Ahab?? He is drawn against
his will, be it by God or the Adversary.’ Before he had entered
Bulgaria, his favourite servant Byzantios fled to Kroummos from
Markellai having seized the imperial robes and 100 lbs. of gold. His
flight was regarded by many people as an ill omen for Nikephoros.
For three days after the first encounters the emperor appeared to be
successful,” but did not ascribe“ his victory to God who grants suc-
cess,- instead, he proclaimed the good fortune and judgement of
Staurakios alone and made threats against the officers who had
opposed the invasion. He ordered that senseless animals,” infants,
and persons of all ages should be slain without mercy and left the
corpses of his fellow countrymen unburied, mindful only of the col-
lection of spoils. He also placed locks and seals on the treasury of
Kroummos and secured it as if it was his own: any Christians who
laid hands on the spoils had their ears or other parts of the body
amputated.” He set fire to the so-called ‘court’ of Kroummos,”
while the latter was greatly humbled and declared, 'Behold, you have
won. Take, therefore, anything you desire and depart in peace.’ But
the enemy of peace would not approve of peace; whereupon, the
other became vexed and gave instructions to secure the entrances
and exits of his country with wooden barriers. On becoming aware
of this, Nikephoros was immediately dumbfounded and went about
not knowing what to do. To his companions he foretold disaster,”
saying, 'Even if we grow wings, let no one imagine he will escape his
doom.' These moves occupied two days, Thursday and Friday. In the
night of Saturday the tumult of armed contingents could be heard all
round Nikephoros and his companions and unnerved everyone.
Before day-break the barbarians fell on the tent of Nikephoros and
those of his commanders and slew him miserably. Among the vic-
tims were the patrician Aetios,’? the patrician Peter,” the patrician
Sisinnios Triphylles, the patrician Theodosios Salibaras (who had
caused much sorrow and distress to the blessed Irene), the patrician
prefect,” the patrician Romanus, who was strategos of the
Anatolics, and many protospathariot and spatharioi, the comman-
ders of the sagmata, including the domestic of the excubitors and
the drungarios of the Imperial Watch, the sirategos of Thrace, many
officers of the temata, and an infinite number of soldiers so that the
flower of Christendom was destroyed. All the arms were lost as were
the imperial utensils. May not Christians experience another time
the ugly events of that day for which no lamentation is adequate.
These things happened on 26 July of the 4th indiction.

Kroummos cut off the head of Nikephoros and for several days
hungit on a pole so as to exhibit it to the tribes that came before him

673

491

492

AM62,98 Chionogiaphia

and to dishonour us. After that, he bared the skull, reveted it on the
outside with silver and, in his pride, made the chieftains of the
Sklavinians drink from it. When so many widows and orphans were
left on that day, in the midst of such uncontrollable weeping, the
slaying of Nikephoros appeared to many persons as a consolation.
None of the survivors could describe exactly the manner of his mur-
der:** some even affirm that Christians stoned him when he had
fallen. As for his effeminate servants (with whom he went to bed),
some perished in the fire of the ditch” others, along with him, by
the sword. At no time did Christians have the misfortune of experi-
encing a rule more grievous than his. He surpassed all his predeces-
sors by his greed, his licentiousness, his barbaric cruelty: to describe
everything in detail would be for us a laborious task and make a
story that future generations will not believe. As the proverb says,
the cloth can be judged by its hem.

The emperor's son, Staurakios, received a fatal blow to the right of
his spine and, barely escaping alive from the battle, reached
Adrianople, sorely tormented by his wound. The patrician Stephen,
who was domestic of the Schools, in the presence of the magistos
Theoktistos,** proclaimed Staurakios emperor” and the latter spoke
to the remnants of the army blaming his own father, at which they
were greatly pleased. The caiopatares Michael, who _ escaped
unharmed, received many entreaties from his friends that he should
be proclaimed emperor, but did not consent because of his oath to
Nikephoros and Staurakios. As for the magiswos Theoktistos, he
was in favour of Michael's becoming emperor. Now Staurakios suf-
fered a heavy haemorrhage through his urine; his thighs and limbs
were paralysed and he was brought to Byzantium in a litter. The
patriarch Nikephoros, who was very friendly with him, advised him
to propitiate God and to indemnify those who had been wronged by
his father,- but the true heir of his father's character replied that he
was unable to return more than 3 talents,”° which was but a small
part of that man's extortions. Even with respect to that sum he
showed himself dilatory, hoping as he did to survive. Being endowed
with his father's implacable character, he kept heaping insults on
the — magistros. Theoktistos, the domestic Stephen, and_ the
curopalates Michael and was completely alienated from his own sis-
ter Prokopia for plotting against him*’ at the instigation of the
Augusta Theophano,- for the unhappy woman, who was childless,
was hoping to obtain the Empire straight away in the manner of the
blessed Irene. Seeing himself to be in an incurable condition,
Staurakios sought to secure the empire for his wife in preference to
causing confusion among Christians on top of their previous mis-

674

Chronographia AM 62,05

fortunes. Alarmed by this, the patriarch Nikephoros, the magistros
Theoktistos, the domestic Stephen, and the curopalates Michael
towards the end of September of the 5 th indiction”®® exchanged their
mutual hostility for friendship. On the evening of 1 October
Staurakios called in the domestic Stephen and asked him how he
could remove his brother-in-law Michael from his house so as to
blind him. When Stephen had replied it was impossible at that hour
because of the force Michael had with him and the secure position
of his house,’ Staurakios begged him that their conversation should
not be revealed to anyone. Having convinced him by means of per-
suasive words to allay his fears, Stephen assembled all through the
night the remaining contingents of the tagmata together with their
officers in the covered Hippodrome® in order to proclaim Michael
emperor. When at dawn the whole Senate had come into the palace,
they did proclaim him emperor as will be stated later. The patriarch
Nikephoros demanded from Michael a statement written in his own
hand concerning the true faith, promising to keep his hands unsul-
lied by Christian blood and not to smite* clergymen, monks, or any
other member of the ecclesiastical establishment.

° [n. 12:3-5. > Cf.Rom. 1:21. ° Exod. 7: 3, 22, etc. 3(1) Kgs.

22: 20.

* Meaning Romans as above, p. 667.

These laws are not preserved. The interest on ships refers to the 10th
'vexation’.

3 Referring to an incident during the episcopate of Nestorios when cer-
tain barbarian slaves, armed with swords, took refuge in Hagia Sophia,
killed a clergyman and wounded another. That was seen as a bad omen:
Sokr. vii.33.

4 Nikephoros is said to have been born in Cappadocia or Pisidia. On the
Athinganoi, a Judaizing sect, see J. Starr, w7r 29 (1936), 93-106; I. Rochow
iN Studien 8. u. Q. fh, 163-78.

> Also spelled Exokionion, on the seventh hill, outside the Constantinian
walls. The name survives in the Turkish Alti Mermer. See Janin, cp, 35 if.
(not altogether accurate); Berger, Paria, 352 ff. and above, AM 6020.

° Actually, Saturday of the first week of Lent fell on 1 Mar. 811.

? Cf. Treadgold, Reviva, 168-9 and n. 226, who concludes from this pas-
sage that Euchaita, rather than Amaseia, was at the time the headquarters
of the Armeniac tema. Leo (the future emperor) was punished and exiled
for his negligence: Theoph. Cont. 11-12; Scr. inc. 336. For the situation of
Euchaita see C. Mango and I. Sevcenko, az 65 (1972), 379L

® The numeral is missing. Note that the Oxford MS has ‘June’ (perhaps
correctly), whereas Anast. has tulio mense.

° Perhaps the same as the addressee of Theod. Stud. « 27. Cf. D.
Papachryssanthou, TM 3 (1968), 322 f.

675

493

AM62,98 Chionogiaphia

i.e. from the time of his accession.

See Introduction, p. lix. Treadgold, reviva, 411 n. 229, is, of course,
right in remarking that the words here attributed to Nikephoros are bogus,
but that does not detract from the fact that the 'author' claims to have spo-
ken to Salibaras in June/July. The identification of the emperor with
Pharaoh picks up the biblical imagery of the ten vexations.

* Treadgold, reviva, 171 and 411 n. 231, wishes to emend 20 July to 11
July because ci. 81, lines 33, 51 states twice that Nikephoros spent 15
days in Bulgaria, and the final disaster is firmly dated to 26 July. The differ-
ence may be more apparent than real because Theoph. places the entry into
Bulgaria after the 'many detours’ (presumably diversionary moves across the
border). Following the entry, he speaks of three days of success and two days
(Thursday and Friday) of indecision. Hence 20 July may be kept.

3 According to cir. si, lines 14-16, he destroyed two Bulgar forces, the
first of 12,000, the second of 50,000. The legend of the monk Nicholas, sy.
cP 343. 30, speaks of a single force of 15,000.

‘4 In dispatches ?

5% So also cw. si, 41 ff.

‘7 §o also car. 811, 29, which adds that the houses and circuit wall were
of timber. It is commonly assumed that the ‘court’ was at Pliska, but it
remains to be explained how Nikephoros could have reached Pliska (a dis-
tance of over 100 km. from Markellai over the Balkan mountains) in so short
a time. It may be recalled that in 809 (p. 665 above) Nikephoros invaded
Bulgaria on Tuesday of Passion week and reached Krum's ‘court’ by Easter
Sunday, that is in five days.

8 Following Anast. (praenuntiabar) and Kedr. ii. 42. 6 (77-poeAeyev) instead
of the MSS' eXeyev.

9 Trene's former minister. Cf. Winkelmann, Quelienstudien, 58.

On his unlikely survival see above, p. 658 n. 4.

Presumably the prefect of Constantinople.

So also ci. 811, 90-2.

This expression (tau rjs oov&aj Zrupl) is elucidated by chr. 811, 67 ff.
The fleeing Byzantines, on reaching the wooden palisade that had been
erected by the Bulgarians, climbed over it and fell into the ditch outside. In
some places they set fire to the palisade. The burning timbers collapsed into
the ditch, killing the men who were falling into it. Seeing that the ditch was
outside the fence, it must have been part of a defensive system directed
against the Byzantines, like the partially preserved Erkesija or Great Fence,
on which see Bury, ere 361-2, and EHR 25 (1910), 276-87, where he argues
that it was built immediately after 814. Cf. also K. Skorpil, 2s: 2 (1930),
197 ff.; 3 (1931), 11 ff.; me 6: 261 f.

*4 His seal in Zacos-Veglery, i/2, no. 2498. Perhaps the same as the patri-
cian and quaestor of AM 6295.

*S Probably on 28 July: Bury, ere, 16 n. 2.

300 Ibs. of gold.

20
21
22

676

Chronographia AM 62,05

*7 She was said to have poisoned him: Mich. Syr. iii. 26, 70, quoting
Dionysios of Tel-Mahre, who had obtained the information from a native of
Constantinople.

8 This and the following events belong, strictly speaking, to AM 6304.

°° Michael resided in the mansion of Mangana: Theoph. Cont. 12.

3° Not the main Hippodrome, but a courtyard attached to the Great
Palace by the Skyla gate. See Guilland, ztuaes, i. 165 ff.

Mr) Ty-rrreaQai.: ne percuterentur, Anast. Dolger, Reg. 384, wishes to
emend r-mtadai tO Tv-novadai, Meaning ‘subjected to imperial decrees’.

am 6304 [ad 811/12]

Year of the divine Incarnation 804

Michael, emperor of the Romans (2 years), 1st year
Mouamed, leader of the Arabs (4 years), 4th year

Leo, bishop of Rome (16 years), 16th year

Nikephoros, bishop of Constantinople (9 years), 7th year

In this year, on 2 October of the 5th indiction, a Thursday, at the
first hour, the most pious curopalates Michael was proclaimed
emperor of the Romans in the Hippodrome by the entire Senate and
the tagmata. Having heard of his proclamation, Staurakios immedi-
ately cut off his hair and put on monastic garb through the offices of
his relative, the monk Symeon, all the time calling for the patriarch.
The latter came to the palace together with the emperor Michael and
Staurakios' sister and fervently begged Staurakios not to be grieved
by the turn of events, which was due not to a plot, but to despair con-
cerning his life. Still raging with his father's wickedness, Staurakios
did not acquiesce and said to him, "You will not find him a better
friend than me.” At the 4th hour of that day Michael was crowned
by the patriarch Nikephoros in the ambo of the Great Church,
whereupon there was general rejoicing. He donated 50 Ibs. of gold to
the patriarch and 25 to the clergy. Being magnanimous and liberal,
he indemnified all those who had been injured by the greed of
Nikephoros and restored the Senate and the army by means of gifts.

On the 12th of the same month Prokopia was crowned Augusta in
the hall of the Augusteus and honoured the Senate with many gifts.
The emperor donated 5 talents of gold to the widows of the thematic
soldiers killed in Bulgaria. He also enriched Theophano, the wife of
Staurakios, who had become a nun as well as her relatives who had
lived wretchedly under Nikephoros. Amongst others, he ceded to
her an imposing mansion, called ta Hebraika,* to be made into a
monastery: that is where Staurakios was buried. He also enriched all
the patricians and senators, bishops, priests and monks, service men

677

494

495

AM62,98 Chionogiaphia

and the poor, both in the Imperial City and in the temata, so that
in a few days the infinite avarice of Nikephoros (on account of which
he met an evil end) was wiped out. Being, in addition to his many
other excellent qualities, pious and highly orthodox, he was dis-
tressed by those who severed themselves from the holy Church for
any cause whatever, reasonable or unreasonable, and did not cease
begging on their behalf the most holy patriarch and those able to
contribute to the general peace. Wherefore he strove that Theodore,
abbot of Studios, Platon, and Joseph, archbishop of Thessalonica
(Theodore's brother), who had been subjected to bitter confinement,
and the other prominent members of their monastery should be
united to the Church, and this he achieved.* He also sent an embassy
to Karoulos, king of the Franks, to treat of peace and a marriage con-
tract for his son Theophylaktos.’ Likewise the most holy patriarch
Nikephoros sent a synodic letter to Leo, the most holy Pope of
Rome; for previously he had been prevented from so doing by
Nikephoros.°

On 25 December of the 5th indiction, a Thursday, Michael, the
most serene emperor, crowned his son Theophylaktos emperor by
the hand of the patriarch Nikephoros in the ambo of the Great
Church. He offered a sumptuous adornment for the holy sanctuary,
namely golden vessels set with stones and a set of four curtains’ of
ancient manufacture, splendidly embroidered in gold and purple and
decorated with wonderful sacred images. He also donated 25 lbs. of
gold to the patriarch and 100 Ibs. to the venerable clergy, so adorn-
ing the holy feast and his son's proclamation. Moved by an excess of
divine zeal, the most pious emperor, at the instigation of the most
holy patriarch Nikephoros and other pious persons, decreed the
death penalty against the Manichees (that is the Paulicians of today)
and the Athinganoi who live in Phrygia and Lykaonia, but was
turned back from this course by certain perverse counsellors® who
used the pretext of repentance, although those who have fallen into
that error are incapable of repenting. The counsellors argued in their
ignorance that priests ought not to condemn the impious to death,’
being in this respect in complete contradiction to Holy Scripture.
For if Peter, the chief apostle, put Ananias and Sapphira to death for
nothing more than a lie;** if the great Paul cries out saying, 'They
which commit such things are worthy of death;'® and this with ref-
erence to bodily sin only,- does it not follow that those who deliver
from the sword persons that are filled with every manner of spiritual
and bodily impurity and are worshippers of demons stand in contra-
diction to the apostles? Even so, the pious emperor Michael exe-
cuted not a few of those heretics.

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Chronographia AM 6304

Staurakios developed ulcers on his back on account of his fatal
wound so that no one could bear to approach him because of the foul
stench. He died on u January of the 5th indiction after a nominal
reign of 7 months and 6 days.”

On 14 May, a Friday, there was a great eclipse of the sun lasting
three and a half hours, from the 8th to the nth hour.”

On 7 June Michael set out against the Bulgarians and was accom-
panied by Prokopia as far as Tzouroulon.” The Bulgarian leader
Kroummos had taken Debeltos” by siege and transplanted its popu-
lation, which had defected to him together with their bishop.
Following this, because of the great perversity of the emperor's evil
counsellors, the army and, in particular, the contingents of Opsikion
and the Thrakesians, raised a sedition and uttered insults. Michael
calmed them with gifts and admonitions and so reduced them to
silence. Having been informed that the troops had rebelled for fear of
war and had been disorderly on garrison duty, the Bulgarians
extended their power over Thrace and Macedonia. At that time the
Christians abandoned Anchialos and Beroia and fled, although no
one was pursuing them; the same at Nikaia,”* the castle of Probaton,
and a number of other forts as also at Philippoupolis and Philippi.”
Seizing this opportunity, the immigrants who lived at the Strymon
also fled and returned to their homes.” That was a sign of divine
wrath reproving the madness of Nikephoros: as a result, his ostensi-
ble achievements, on which he prided himself, quickly collapsed.
Now those who had neglected to censure the evil doctrines preva-
lent among many men, namely the widespread heresies of God's
enemies, the Paulicians, Athinganoi, iconoclasts, and Tetraditai’”” (I
refrain from mentioning adultery and fornication, licentiousness
and perjury, brotherly hatred, avarice, and other transgressions)
began moving their tongues against the holy icons and the monastic
habit and to laud the abominable and thrice-miserable Constantine
because (as those wretches impiously affirmed) he had won victories
over the Bulgarians thanks to his piety. Such of them as were in the
Imperial City took up arms to subvert the orthodox faith even after
an ecumenical council. Blinded in their spirit, they desired that
blind men should reign without God's assent, namely the sons of
God's enemy Constantine, then kept under guard on the island of
Panormos,” whom they intended to abduct in the night and bring
before the army. But the Lord put them to shame and roused the
most pious Michael to avenge the truth. Without dissimulation he
addressed to the army some reasonable words about the faith and
then returned to the Imperial City and, by a clever stratagem, fright-
ened the majority of the conspirators by means of a few blows and

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exiled Constantine's blind sons to Aphousia.” He cut off the tongue
of one of those vagabond pseudo-hermits, the fellow-magician of
Nicholas of Hexakionion, who had scraped and dishonoured an icon
of the all-holy Theotokos, and who now died a spiritual as well as a
bodily death. As for the latter's fellow-thinker Nicholas who had
announced his repentance, he had him confess his misdeeds in pub-
lic and placed him in a monastery with instructions that he should
not lead an independent regimen. At a silentium held in the
Magnaura he addressed the people and set out the pious doctrines of
his godly mind. The Athinganoi he subjected to confiscation and
banishment at the hands of Leo, strategos of the Anatolics.*°

In the month of August of the 5th indiction Thebith” made an
expedition against the Christians. Leo, strategos of the Anatolics,
met him in battle.and gained a victory after killing 2,000 and cap-
turing horses and weapons. Mouamed, Aaron's eldest son, who was
the ruler of the Arab nation, gave battle to his brother Abdelas in
inner Persia and was defeated. He fled to Baghdad which he held.
Damascus was occupied by a usurper, Egypt and Africa were divided
between two rulers, and another devastated Palestine like a robber.”

"Acts 5: 1—10. 4 Rom. 1: 32.

* AD 811. Anast. is wrong in giving 5 Oct.

2 So Anast.: amicum metiorem me non _ habebis. The Greek MSS have
<F>IAOV aVroV KPEITTOVA ovx _ evpr/aets, which does not yield a satisfactory
sense: avrov should be corrected either to i‘iov or to avrov. Cf. Bury, ERE, 20
n. 2.

3 Situation unknown. See Bury, ere, 21 n. 3; Janin, Zéglise, 470-1. The
monastery was dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The tomb in which were
buried Staurakios and his wife Theophano is mentioned in Cer. 647.

* Actually, the Studites were allowed to return from exile shortly before
the death of Nikephoros I: Alexander, Nicephorus, 96-7.

2 Dolger, Reg. 385. Cf. id, Byzanz und die europaische _Staatenwelt
(Ettal, 1953), 306 ff.; Treadgold, reviva, 178 f. The Latin sources, which
give further details about the embassy, are silent about a marriage proposal.

7 rerpap-qXa, presumably to be hung on the four sides of the ciborium.
cf oT. OF. Mathews, The Early Churches of Constantinople: Architecture and
Liturgy (University Park, Pa., 1971), 167.

8 The Studites. Cf. Grumel, reg. 383-4; Alexander, Nicephorus, 99.

° Theod. Stud. ep. 94, 455. See also v. Nikepn. 158 f. and Peter the
Sicilian in TM4 (1970), 65.

"Cf. Mich. Syr. iii. 26.

* For a curator of Tzouroulon who died in 813 see I. Sevcenko, az 35
(1965), 564-74.

680

Chronogia phia AM 6303

% Ancient Deultum near the bay of Burgas. See rz 6; 234 f.

“ More correctly Nike, today Havsa, 26 km. south-east of Adrianople.
See TIB 6: 374 f.

° A list of the places taken by Krum appears in the inscription of
Hambarli. See H. Gregoire, a: 9 (1934), 745 ff.; Besevliev, Protobuig.
Inscbr, TNO. 2, PP. 124 ff. I. Karayannopulos in Byzantium: Tribute to A. N.
Stratos (Athens, 1986), i. 101-9, argues that the mention of Philippi here is
due to scribal error.

7 On the Tetraditai (Quartodecimans) see our remarks in The Homilies
of Photius (Cambridge, Mass., 1958), 279-82.

8 One of the Princes’ Islands (Antigoni, Burgaz adasi). See Janin, Grands
centres, 63- 5.

2 Now Av§a adasi, a small island south of Prokonnesos and west of the
Kyzikos peninsula: ibid. 200-1.

*° He had been recalled from banishment and promoted by Michael I:
Theoph. Cont. 12; Scr. inc. 336.

* Thabit b. Nasr: Brooks, ‘Abbasids’, 747; Canard, a): 32 (1962), 362.

* Hostilities between the two brothers broke out in Mar. 811. Al-Amin’'s
forces were defeated near Rayy in July and again in 812. The Caliph sought
refuge in Baghdad, which was invested in Aug. 812 and held out until Sept.
813. Theoph. does not appear to have been informed ofits fall. The devasta-
tion of Palestine was carried out by one Amr: see Mich Syr. iii. 21, AG 1123,
who also refers (p. 23) to troubles in Egypt and Africa.

AM 6305 [AD 812/13]

Year of the divine Incarnation 805
Michael, 2nd year

Leo, 17th year

Nikephoros 8 thyear’

In this year Kroummos, the leader of the Bulgarians, sent
Dargameros’ on a new? mission of peace to the emperor Michael,
seeking the terms that had been agreed at the time of Theodosios of
Adramytion and the patriarch Germanus with Kormesios, the then
lord of Bulgaria.* The terms in question established the boundary at
Meleones in Thrace,~’ [a tribute] of vestments and [dyed] red hides to
the value of 30 lbs. of gold- furthermore, that refugees from either
side should be returned to their respective homes even if they had
plotted against their own rulers, and that those who traded in both
countries should be certified by means of diplomas and seals:° (any-
one not having seals would lose) his assets which would be confis-
cated by the Treasury. He also wrote accusations against the
emperor, namely, ‘If you do not hasten to make peace, I will, through

681

498

499

AM62,98 Chionogiaphia

your fault, array myself against Mesembria.’ When the emperor had
received this message, he did not accept peace at the instigation of
his evil counsellors, who affirmed under a false pretext of piety, but
rather out of ignorance and to the destruction of the common good,
that refugees should not be surrendered;’ in confirmation of which
they quoted the Lord's saying in the Gospel, 'Him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out.”?

In the middle of October Kroummos arrayed himself against
Mesembria with an equipment of machines and siege engines in
which he had become expert through the fault of Nikephoros, the
destroyer of the Christians. For there was an Arab,” highly skilled in
engineering, who had accepted baptism and whom Nikephoros
enrolled in imperial service and established at Adrianople, but
offered him no suitable assistance or reward; on the contrary, he
diminished his pay and, when the latter complained, had him
severely beaten. Thereupon, the Arab in his despair defected to the
Bulgarians and taught them the whole art of making engines. So
Kroummos took up his position,- and since, out of stupidity, no one
offered him any resistance all through that month, he occupied
Mesembria.

On 1 November the emperor, reduced to such straits, invited the
patriarch to confer about peace; also present were the metropolitans
of Nicaea? and Kyzikos and the evil counsellors, (including
Theodore, abbot of Studios). The patriarch, the metropolitans, and
the emperor favoured peace, whereas the evil counsellors along with
Theodore, abbot of Studios, rejected peace, saying, ‘One ought not to
embrace peace if that means subverting a divine commandment: for
the Lord has declared, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out" '—not knowing what they were saying nor that concerning
which they were making affirmations. In the first place, whereas no
one from the other side was seeking refuge with us, we would be
betraying those within 'the court"® whom we could have saved by
making peace. In the second place, even if a few did escape to us, it
was more necessary to purchase the safety of the greater number
(who were our fellow countrymen) than to be in possession of some
unknown and insignificant [individuals]:" for God is pleased when
the greater rather than the lesser number are saved and it is surely a
sign of complete madness to sustain a great loss for a small gain.
Furthermore, he who does not provide for those of his own house has
denied his faith, according to Paul,” and is considered worse than an
infidel. And what about, 'I was peaceable with them that hated
peace'?® Are they perchance wiser than both Paul and David? And
who is today wiser than the thrice-blessed Germanus,” except the

682

Chronographia AM 62,05

evil counsellors in their soul-destroying vanity who stood in the way
of peace?

These things, as already indicated, occurred on 1 November. On
the 4th of the same month was seen a comet in the shape of two
luminous crescents, now united, now separated so as to assume dif-
ferent forms and take on the likeness of a headless man. And on the
following day we received the disastrous news of the capture of
Mesembria, which frightened everyone by the prospect of greater
ills. For they found it filled with all manner of goods that are neces-
sary for human habitation and took possession of it along with
Debeltos, wherein they found 36 brass siphons and a considerable
quantity of the liquid fire that is projected from them” as well as an
abundance of gold and silver.

In the same year many of the Christians of Palestine, monks and
laymen, and from all of Syria arrived in Cyprus, fleeing the excessive
misdeeds of the Arabs. For, as a result of the general anarchy that
prevailed in Syria, Egypt, Africa, and their’* entire dominion, mur-
ders, rapes, adulteries, and all manner of licentious acts that are
abhorred by God were committed in villages and towns by that
accursed nation. In the holy city of Christ our God the venerable
places of the holy Resurrection, of Golgotha, and the rest were pro-
faned.” Likewise the famous Javras in the desert, that of St Chariton
and that of St Sabas, and the other monasteries and churches were
made desolate.” Some Christians were killed like martyrs, while
others proceeded to Cyprus and thence to Byzantium and were given
kindly hospitality by the pious emperor Michael and the most holy
patriarch Nikephoros. The emperor made a gift of an important
monastery” to those who had come to the City, while to those who
had remained in Cyprus, both monks and laymen, he sent a talent’®
of gold and provided for them in every way. The emperor Michael
was kindly and gentle towards everyone, but in the administration
of affairs he was incompetent and subservient to the magistos
Theoktistos and to other dignitaries.

In the month of February two Christian refugees from Bulgaria
announced to the emperor that Kroummos was making haste to
ambush those who were in Thrace.’”? On the 15th of the month the
emperor marched out of the City and, by God's providence,
Kroummos withdrew empty-handed after losing many of his men.
The emperor proceeded to Adrianople and, having taken appropriate
measures there, returned joyfully. He then went up to the monastery
of St Tarasios, the patriarch, and, after celebrating a memorial ser-
vice’® together with the Augusta Prokopia, reveted his holy tomb
with silver sheeting weighing 95 lbs.”

683

500

501

AM62,98 Chionogiaphia

After the fall of Mesembria the emperor renounced the prospect of
peace with Kroummos. He made a levy from all the themata” and
ordered that they should cross to Thrace before spring. As a result,
everyone was annoyed, especially the Cappadocians and the
Armeniacs. In May the emperor set out with the tagmata and, once
again, the Augusta Prokopia accompanied him as far as ta
Akedouktou near Herakleia.** This provoked the army to curse and
mock Michael. On 4 May there was an eclipse of the sun in the 14th
degree of the Bull according to the astronomical tables,” at sunrise,
and great fear fell on the people. The emperor with the generals and
the army made a tour of Thrace, neither proceeding against
Mesembria nor undertaking any other necessary action with a view
to the discomfiture of the enemy. Instead, he gave credence to the
vain words of his unwarlike counsellors who affirmed that the
enemy would not dare attack him while he remained on home
ground. The presence of such a throng of our fellow-countrymen
who lacked necessary supplies and ruined the local inhabitants by
rapine and invasion was more grievous than a barbarian attack. At
the beginning of June Kroummos, the leader of the Bulgarians, fear-
ful of the great numbers of the Christian army, set out at the head of
his own troops. When he had encamped at Versinikia,** about thirty
miles from the imperial army, the patrician Leo, strategos of the
Anatolics, and the patrician John Aplakes, strategos of Macedonia,
were very eager to give battle, but were prevented from so doing by
the emperor on account of his evil counsellors.

In the City, while the people and the patriarch were performing a
litany in the church of the Holy Apostles, some impious members
of the foul heresy of the God-hated Constantine prised up the door
of the imperial mausoleum (no one was paying any attention
because the throng was so thick) and made it open suddenly with
some kind of noise as if by a divine miracle. They then rushed in and
fell before the deceiver's tomb,”° calling on him and not on God, cry-
ing out, ‘Arise and help the State that is perishing!’ They spread the
rumour that Constantine had arisen on his horse and was setting out
to fight the Bulgarians—he who dwells in Hell in the company of
demons! The City prefect arrested those men and at first they lied,
pretending that the doors of the mausoleum had opened automati-
cally by God's will. But when they had been brought before the pre-
fect's tribunal and failed to produce witnesses, they admitted the
stratagem of the wrenching before any torture had been applied to
them. The prefect had them suitably 'wrenched' and condemned
them to be paraded in public and to cry aloud the reason for their
punishment. Thus had the Devil, inventor of evil, trained the sol-

684

Chronographia AM 62,05

diers to lay blame not on their own sins, but on the orthodox faith
that has been handed down by our fathers and on the monastic rule,
the school of godly philosophy. Most of those who uttered such blas-
phemies were Christians only in semblance, but in truth were
Paulicians who, unable to make manifest their own loathsome doc-
trines, seduced the ignorant by this device, extolling the Jewish-
minded Constantine as a prophet and a victor and embracing his
impiety so as to subvert the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
On 22 June, after the Christians and the Bulgarians had arrayed
themselves not far from Adrianople, the Christians were grievously
worsted in battle and the enemy won, so much so that most of the
Christians had not even waited for the first clash before they took to
headlong flight.*” Astonished, Kroummos thought that what was
happening was some kind of ambush and for a while he restrained
his men from pursuit. But when he had seen the Christians fleeing
without restraint, he pursued them and killed a great multitude. He
also seized the camp train and despoiled it. As for the emperor, he
was making his homeward escape, cursing the army and its com-
manders and swearing he would abdicate the Empire. He communi-
cated his intention to the patrician Leo, the stiaegos of the
Anatolics, inasmuch as the latter was pious, extremely courageous,
and fit in every respect to assume the kingship.”* But when Leo had
refused, he left him in command of the temata and himself arrived
in the Imperial City on 24 June, intent on abdicating his rule and
appointing another, but prevented from so doing by his wife and his
ministers. The most holy patriarch Nikephoros agreed to this course
because if another were appointed under such circumstances, the
emperor and his children would be spared. When the stiaegoi and
the army had learnt that the emperor had fled to the City, they
despaired of being ruled by him any longer and, having taken coun-
sel among themselves, implored (the patrician) Leo, stiategos of the
Anatolics, to help the common cause and protect the Christian
state. For a time the latter strenuously objected, bearing in mind the
difficulty of the occasion and the enemy's irresistible attack and
wishing to preserve his correct stance, untouched by treachery,
towards the emperors. When, however, he had seen the enemy has-
tening against the City, he wrote to the patriarch Nikephoros an
assurance of his own orthodoxy and asked for his prayers and con-
sent with a view to assuming the power.”? On reaching the Tribunal
outside the City*® with the stiaegoi and the army, he was pro-
claimed most legitimately emperor of the Romans. In the middle of
the day he entered Constantinopole through the Charsian gate* and
arrived in the palace. On being informed of his proclamation,

685

502

503

AM62,98 Chionogiaphia

Michael, together with Prokopia and their children, sought refuge in
the chapel of the Pharos, where they cut off their hair and donned
monastic garb on u July of the 6th indiction, a Monday. The fol-
lowing day Leo was crowned by the patriarch Nikephoros in the
ambo of the Great Church and ordered the City to be placed in a
state of defence. He himself toured the walls by day and night,
encouraging everyone and bidding them be hopeful that God would
soon work a miracle through the intercessions of the all-pure
Theotokos and all the saints and not allow us to be altogether
shamed because of the multitude of our sins.

Puffed up by his victory, Kroummos, the new Sennacherib, left his
brother with his own force to besiege Adrianople and, six days after
Leo's assumption of the imperial office, arrived at the Imperial City
with might and horses and made a tour outside the walls, from
Blachernai to the Golden Gate, exhibiting his forces. After perform-
ing his foul demonic sacrifices in the coastal meadow of the Golden
Gate, he requested the emperor to affix his spear in the Golden Gate
itself. When the latter had refused, he returned to his tent. Having
admired the walls of the City and the emperor's well-ordered array
and giving up hope of the siege he had contemplated, he had recourse
to negotiation and made some tentative proposals for peace.
Grasping this opportunity, the emperor tried to ambush him, but
was prevented from accomplishing this plan by the multitude of our
sins inasmuch as the executants of the deed, through their incom-
petence, merely wounded Kroummos and did not inflict on him a
fatal blow.** Incensed at this, the wretch sent a raiding party to St
Mamas and burnt the palace that is there. He loaded on carts the
bronze lion of the hippodrome,® the bear and the dragon of the foun-
tain, as well as choice marbles and returned home after besieging
and taking Adrianople.**

* Note the absence of the Caliph from this, the last rubric. For Pope Leo
see AM 62809, n. 1.

* i.e. Dragomir, a Slavonic name.

3 See above, p. 672 for his earlier overtures.

* These indications appear to be contradictory, seeing that Kormesios
was contemporary with Constantine V, whereas the Khan at the time of
Theodosios III was Tervel. See Bury, z£rz, 338 n. 5, who attempts to resolve
the difficulty by supposing that Krum invoked a treaty made under
Constantine V, which, in turn, ratified an earlier one of 716. Besevliev,
Protobulg. Periode, 249 (., supposes that Kormesios was joint ruler with
Tervel.

686

Chronographia AM 62,05

> Exact situation unknown. Several villages called Jabalkovo (Turkish
Elmali) may claim descent from Meleones (Apple Orchards). See 7 6: 353.

7 This suggests that refugees from Bulgaria were not a negligible ele-
ment. On their settlement by Michael I see Skylitzes, 12.

8 Itisnot clear whether he was the same as Eumathios mentioned under
AM 6301.

° Peter, who was removed from office in 815. Theod. Stud, wrote him
after his deposition /ep. 313).

“Meaning unclear ij in’ dSrjXots Kai ag>aveoi nXovTeiv, rendered by
Anast. as quam super incertis et invisibilibus locupletari). Bury, ERE, 349
n. 1, thinks this refers to the payment of 30 lbs.' worth of tribute, but why
would that have been an ‘unknown’ quantity? Besides, the adj. a‘avr/s was
usually applied to persons of lowly origin, in this case refugees from
Bulgaria. On the deliberations see also Theoph. Cont. 12-13, “ho specifies
that Theoktistos and the Senate balked at the exchange of refugees and so
advised against peace.

* In whose days the original treaty had been concluded.

8 See above, p. 493. 4 i.e. the Arabs’.

° V. Mich. Sync. 56 ff., a disingenuous source, speaks of a heavy fine
imposed by the Arabs on the churches of Jerusalem.

© It has been argued that this account of the damage inflicted on the
Palestinian monasteries was exaggerated: S. H. Griffith, a 56 (1986),
117 ff. Cf. M.-F. Auzepy, TM 12 (1994), 192, who points out that Theod.
Stud. epp. 277, 278 considered it worthwhile in 818 to alert the abbots of
the Old and the New Lavras about the resumption of iconoclasm.

7 Probably that of the Chora. See J. Gouillard, Rev. des et sud-est
europeennes, 7 (1969), 73-6; Auzepy, op. cit. 211.

8 100 lbs.

| Xoxfjoai. . . Tovs iv try opaxry, presumably units of the Byzantine army
rather than the population at large.

*° The feast day of Tarasios fell on 25 Feb.

* Another example of a tomb reveted with silver is that of Maria, daugh-
ter of the emperor Theophilos: Theoph. Cont. 108. 19.

** The composition of this levy is given in more detail in Scr. inc. 336.

*3 Between Selymbria and Herakleia, at which point the road must have
branched off to Adrianople. See Bury, erg, 101 n. 5.

4 Tf that is the meaning of the expression /card TOV wpookoirov.

*> Near Adrianople, exact situation unknown. See 7B 6: 205.

© Constantine V was buried in Justinian's mausoleum in a sarcophagus
of verd-antique. It was ejected and his remains were burnt by Michael III.
See P. Grierson, pop 16 (1962), 53-4.

*7 A fuller account of the battle of Versinikia, in which Aplakes was
killed, is given by Scr. inc. 337-9. See also Theoph. Cont. 13-15 and Bury,
ERE, 350-2.

8 See Introduction, p. lvi.

687

AM62,98 Chionogiaphia

*9 For the circumstances of Michael's abdication see Bury, ere, 17 ff.

3° At the Hebdomon.

3’ Present-day Adrianople gate. According to Theoph. Cont. 18. r8, how-
ever, Leo made his entrance by the Golden Gate and was greeted by the
Senate at the monastery of Studios, which would have been impossible had
he entered by the gate of Charisios.

® For a more detailed account of the ambush, which took place near the
gate of Blachemai, see Scr. inc. 342-4; Bury, Ere, 354 f.

33 i.e. the race course attached to the palace of St Mamas. Scr. inc. 344
speaks of the breaking of columns and the removal of lead as well as statues
from the hippodrome. He also records the burning of churches and other
buildings on the northern side of the Golden Horn.

34 Theoph. does not mention the devastation wrought by the retreating
Bulgarian army along the coast of the Propontis, from Athyras to Panion,
then inland to Apros and Adrianople. The latter seems to have fallen
towards the end of August and the people sheltering within its walls, said to
have numbered 40,000, were deported beyond the Danube. For these events
see Treadgold, Revivai, 202 f.

Glossary

agens in rebus an agent of the emperor, often a messenger; LRE 578-82;
ODB 36-7

apokrisiarios representative of a bishop dealing with higher authorities;
ODB 136

a secretis imperial secretary,- 1rE 574, 605; opB 204

augustalis/augustalios title of the prefect of Egypt; ops 232

Augusteus/Augustaion, enclosed open space in Constantinople, south of the
Hagia Sophia; ops 232. Also a hall in the imperial palace,

autokrator the official Greek translation of the Latin impeiatoi emperor;
ODB 235

bajulus tutor or guardian; ops 245-6 (though mainly concerned with the
later development of the term)

bema a raised platform, especially at the east end of a church; ops 281

Blues, the. Together with the Greens, one of the two major circus factions
of the empire; ops 773-4

brachialion a defensive outwork; AM 6165 n. 2

Campus a plain lying just outside the imperial Hebdomon palace, used for
the assembling of troops, and where several emperors were proclaimed;
ops 907 and AM 5930 n. 3

candidatus a member of the corps of imperial bodyguards; cre 613; ops
1100

carat/keration a unit of currency, one twenty-fourth of a solidus, opB
1123-4

castaldus (gastaldus) a Lombard term for governor; AM 6r 69 n. 6

cataphract armoured cavalryman on an armoured horse- ops 1114

centenarion pi. centenaria a unit of weight (100 lbs.), often applied to gold
coins; oODB 1121

Chalke the main entrance hallway of the Great Palace of Constantinople;
ODB 405-6

chartophylax ecclesiastical official dealing with archival and secretarial
matters; opB 415-16

chartulary a general term for low-ranking officials in various government
bureaux; ops 416

chelandion pi. chelandia a transport ship,- ops 417

chiliarch commander of a thousand men, a loose term

chlamys a long cloak associated with court ceremonial (in the sixth cen-
tury); ODB 424

ciborium a domed or pyramidical structure on four or six columns, con-
structed over a tomb or church altar; ops 462

citatorium a summons,- AM 6207 n. 3

689

Glossary

City prefect, praefectus urbi the official in charge of the imperial capital;
LRE 692

comes pi. comites a Count, a term given to various imperial officials; re
104-5; ODB 484-5

comes Aegypti the senior military official in Egypt; zee 776

comes Africae the senior military official in the province o f Africa; zre 610

comes commerciorum the official in charge of regulating trade- tre 826;
ODB 1141

comes excubitorum the official in charge of the excubitors (see below)

comes foederatorum the official in charge of the 'federate’ (allied) forces,-
LRE, 665

comes et praeses Isauriae title of the governor of the province of Isauria;
LRE 609

comes (sacrarum) largitionum the Count of the Sacred Largess, a high-rank-
ing official in charge of finances,- rrE 427-38; opB 486

comes Orientis the Count of the East; zre 373-4

comes rei militaris a military Count; ree 105

congiarium pi. congiaria a distribution of money by the emperor to the
people

consul ordinarius ordinary consul (as opposed to an honorary consul, who
bought the office); zee 533; ope 525-6

corrector the title of the governors of certain provinces; LrE 525

cubicularius a palace eunuch who served 'the sacred bedchamber' of the
emperor; LRE 566-70; ODB 1154

curator a term usually designating the administrator of an imperial estate;
LRE 426; ODB 1155-6

curopalates a palace official in charge of construction and order in the
palace; later a high honorific title- ops 1157 and AM 6151 n. 21

demarch the leader of a circus faction; ops 602-3

deme Greek term for a circus faction

denarius pi. denarii a Roman unit of currency

diaitarius pi. diaitarii a valet or steward (from dai, a dining-room)

Diippion the name given to the gates {earcerey) of the Hippodrome of
Constantinople and the space immediately in front of them

domestic of the Schools the commander of the corps of schome (on which
see below); ops 647-8

domesticus the personal assistant of a magistrate; rrE 602-3; opB 646

dromon pi. dromones a warship; ops 662

drungarius officer commanding a drungus, subordinate to a turmarch (from
the seventh century); ops 663

dux pi. duces a Duke or military commander attached to a particular
province; LRE 609-10, oDB 659

ekdikos a legal agent of a Church (defensor ecclesiae), ODB Y'742

epiphanestatos most noble, Greek equivalent of the Latin term nobilis-
simus a very high-ranking dignity

eulogia pi. eulogiai a blessing, a term applied to consecrated gifts; opB 745

690

Glossary

excubitor a member of an elite corps of imperial guardsmen,- :re 658-9;
opB 646, AM 6054 n. 7

follis a copper coin of 40 nummi (of little worth); ops 794

genikon logothesion the treasury concerned with the collection of general
taxes; opB 829-30

genikon logothete of the, the head of the foregoing; ops 829-30, AM 6203
n.8

Golden Gate a monumental gate at the south end of the land walls of
Constantinople; ops 858-9

Greens, the Together with the Blues, one of the two major circus factions
of the empire; ops 773-4

Hebdomon a suburb of Constantinople, lying to the west of the city on the
Sea of Marmara; ops 907

hexagram a silver coin introduced in the seventh century; ops 927

illustris pi. illustres the highest title of senators,- rre 528-30; opB 986-7

illustrissimus an emphatic version of itustris

kathisma the emperor's box in the hippodrome; ope 1116 (5)

kleisoura a mountain pass; ops 1132

kleisourarch a commander of a mountain pass; ops 1132

kochlias the spiral staircase linking the imperial palace and the kathisma,-
ODB 934

koinobion pi. koinobia a monastery inhabited by monks or nuns following
a communal way of life- ops 1136

kom(m)erkion customs dues

kommerkiarios the fiscal official in charge of regulating trade on the fron-
tier- opB 1141

laurata, imagines laureatae crowned with laurel, used especially of imper-
ial images

lavra a type of monastery; ops 1190

lector a reader of the scriptures in church; opz 84

logothete a head of one of the imperial departments, often responsible for
finances; opB 1247

logothete of the Course (logothetes tou dromou) the official responsible for
(among other things) imperial ceremonial and foreign affairs; ops 1247-8

logothete of the Treasury (genikos logothetes) official in charge of genikon.,
ODB 829

magister militum master of soldiery, high-ranking military official; tre
608-10; opB 1266-7

magister militum per Armeniam the master of soldiery stationed on the
north-eastern frontier; rE 271

Magister militum per Orientem the master of soldiery stationed on the
eastern frontier

Magister militum per Thracias the master of soldiery stationed in the
Balkans

magister militum praesentalis a master of soldiery stationed in the capital;
LRE 124-5

691

Glossary

magister militum vacans titular holder of the post of magister militum
LRE535

magister officioruin the master of offices, the head of the central civil
administration of the Empire; tre 368-9; opB 1267

magister utriusque militiae master of both soldieries (that is infantry and
cavalry), an earlier version of the magister mititum

Magistrianus pi. magistriani member on the staff of the magister officio-
rum often entrusted with imperial messages

Magistros a high-ranking dignity; ops 1267

Magnaura a ceremonial hall on the periphery of the Great Palace at
Constantinople; ops 1267-8

medimnus pi. medimni a unit of measurement of grain or land, the equiv-
alent of themodius-, ODB 1388

Melkite a supporter of the Council of Chalcedon in Syria and Egypt; ops
1332

milliaresion, miliaresion a silver coin worth one-twelfth of a solidus, opB
1373

modius pi. modii a unit of measurement of grain or land; ope 1388

monostrategos a general commanding several themata-, ODB 1964

nobilissimus, nobelissimos in Greek, most noble, a very high ranking dig-
nity reserved for members of the imperial family,- ops 1489-90

nomisma pi. nomismata coins, usually referring to late Roman gold coins
[solidi], ODB 1490

numerus a unit of soldiers; zee 659 and AM 6051 n. 3

oikonomos a cleric charged with the management ofa see or religious foun-
dation; opB 1517

optimati an elite corps of foederati (allied forces), which gave its name to a
thema Of north-western Asia Minor; ops 1529

optio a military quartermaster; zre 626-7

palatine associated with the imperial palace

papias a eunuch in charge of the gates and buildings of the palace; ops 1580

parakoimomenos pi. parakoimomenoi the eunuch who guarded the impe-
rial bedchamber; ops 1584

paroikos a dependent peasant; ops 1589-90

patriarch the incumbent of one of the five major sees of the Empire (Rome,
Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and Jerusalem); zee 883-94; ops
1599-1600

patrician a high-ranking dignity; zre 528, 534; ops 1600

phylarch a commander of auxiliaries (often Arab) allied to the Empire,- zre
611; ODB 1672

praepositus (sacri cubiculi), the grand chamberlain of the palace- zee
567-70; oODB 1709

praetor an official responsible for law and order; tre 537-9; opDB 1710

praetorian prefect the highest regional civil functionary; zre 370-2; opB
1710-11

primicerius a term designating the senior member of any group of func-
tionaries; opB 1719-20

692

Glossary

promoskrinios corruption of primiscrinius the chief of a governmental
bureau; zrE 587

protectores sing, protector senior soldiers; rrz 636-40; ops 1743, AM 6051
n. 12

protoasekretis head of the college of a secrets; ODB 1742

protospatharios the first spatharios a dignity in the imperial hierarchy;
ODB 1748

protostrator head of the imperial stratores, ops 1748-9

quaestor sacri palatii high-ranking imperial official concerned with legal
matters. LRE 387; ODB 1765-6

referendarius an imperial secretary; xre 575; ops 1778 (1)

tes privata the private property of the emperor; 1rz 411-27

sacra an imperial letter

sakellarios an imperial fiscal official, often a eunuch; re 567-8; ‘ops
1828-9

scholae (palatinae), sing, schola the corps of guards of the imperial palace;
LRE 647-8; opB 1851-2, AM 6051 n. 12

scholarius a member of the schoiae

scholasticus a title frequently applied to lawyers. ops 1852

scrinium pi. scrinia the bureaux of the imperial administration; zre 412

secretum a bureau or department; ops 1866

semissis a small gold coin, worth half of a sotidus., LRE 439, 443; ODB 1868

silentiarius a court attendant charged with keeping order and silence in the
palace; zrRE 571-2; opB 1896

silentium an extraordinary meeting of emperor and senate to consider
major issues of state; 1rRE 333, 338; opB 1896

skevophylax a cleric charged with looking after the sacred valuables of a
church; opB 1909-10

skribon pi. skribones a select officer of the imperial guard, often used for
special missions; rE 658-9

solea the passage between the ambo and the bema, ops 1923

solidus pi. solidi a gold coin known in Greek as the nomisma

spatharios a bodyguard of the emperor, later an honorific title,- rre 567-8;
ODB 1935-6

Sphendone the curved south-western end of the Hippodrome of
Constantinople; ops 1936-7

stade a classical unit of measurement of distance, about % of a mile, ops
1373

stama (in hippodrome) a 'stopping-place' in front of the imperial box in the
Hippodrome, perhaps a corruption of skamma, AM 6099 n. 2

strategos the traditional Greek word for a general, later commander of a
thema-, ODB 1964

strator pi. stratores an imperial groom (with wider responsibilites); zee
373; ODB 1967

subadiuva deputy assistant of the magister officiorum-, LRE 369

suffragium pi. suffragia the recommendation of people to offices, re
391-6

693

Glossary

synaxis an assembly, or service in church; ops 1992

synkellos pl.synkelloi the adviser of a patriarch; ops 1993-4

synthronon the bench or benches reserved for the clergy in the apse of a
church; ops 1996

tagma pi. tagmata a unit of soldiers (esp. a mobile unit), the Greek equiva-
lent of a numeras; opB 2007, AM 6094 n. 22

talent an antiquated unit of currency

thema pi. themata a military division and administrative unit, governed by
a strategos. ODB- 2034-5

tremissis one third of a solidus. ODB 2113

tricennalia the celebrations held to mark the thirtieth anniversary of an
emperor's elevation to the throne

troparion pi. troparia the earliest form of the Byzantine hymn; ops 2124

turmarch a military commander in charge of a tourma, ODB 2100-1

vestitor pi. vestitores courtiers of modest rank connected with the imperial
wardrobe, ops 2164

vicar (Latin vicarius) the deputy of the praetorian prefect; ree 373-5; ops
2164

vicennalia the celebrations held to mark the twentieth anniversary of an
emperor's elevation to the throne

vir illustris a man possessing the highest dignity of the Empire; zrz 528-30

xenodochos_ the director of a xenodocheion, a guest-house for travellers, the
poor, and the sick; ops 2208

694

General Index

There is a separate index for Constantinople, which excludes any suburbs
beyond the walls. For buildings (e.g. monasteries or churches) readers
should check first under the place where the building was located, then
under the name of the building as well as under 'Monastery' or ‘Church’.
Theophanes' sources mentioned in the notes have only been indexed where
they are discussed in detail. The abbreviation n. following the page number
indicates that the item is mentioned in the notes of that page (rather than
in Theophanes' text), and may also be mentioned in the chronological
rubric. The abbreviation r. indicates that the individual is present on that
page only in the chronological rubric. Persian rulers are described as kings
rather than emperors, in order to distinguish them from Roman emperors.
Patriarchs and metropolitans are referred to as bishops (bp.) for the sake of
brevity; Alexandria is abbreviated as Alex., Antioch as Ant., Constantin-
ople as CP, Jerusalem as Jer., while the bishop of Rome is referred to as the
pope. The abbreviations OT and NT after a person's name refer to the Old
and New Testaments respectively. Note also the following abbreviations:
w. (wife), d. (daughter), m. (mother), f. (father), s. (son), h. (husband), br.
(brother), sis. (sister), n. (nephew), mag. mit PP (prae-
torian prefect), PU (City prefectipraefectus urbi), mag. off. [magister offi-
ciorum), CSL Non-Roman names have in
general been indexed in their original (rather than Greek) form unless their
identification is uncertain. With regard to the order in which names are
indexed, single names precede double. Hence, for instance, John of Litarba
and John, bp. of CP, precede John Immonides.

[magister militum),

[comes sacrarum _ largitionum).

504 r., 506-10, 511-12 r., 514-16 r.,
518-21 r., 522
"Abd al-Malik b. Salih 650-1

a secretis 413, 417 N., 580, 609, 628 n.,
632, 661

Aaron, see Harun

Abandanes 320 ‘Abd al-Qais 599 n.

Abas, see al-'Abbas b. al-Walld ‘Abd al-Rahman 487

Abasbali 620 ‘Abd al-Rahman b. ‘Abdallah 557,
Abasgia 542-3, 547 n. 558 n.

Abasgians 441, 542-3 ‘Abd al-Rahman b.'Abd al-Malik 645 n.,

'Abbad b. 'Asim 472 n.
al-'Abbas b. Muhammad 614 n., 622 n.,

652 n.
‘Abd al-Rahman b. al-Ash'ath 518

624 n, ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Mu'awiya 589 n.
al-'Abbas b. al-Walid 525-6, 533, 583, ‘Abd al-Wahhab 614 a

584 n. Abdaas 128
Abbasids 587 n. ‘Abdallah Abu Dja'far al-Mansur, caliph
"Abd Allah b. Muhammad b. al-Ash'ath 588, 589 N., 590 N., 592-3, 504 N-, 595,

518 n. 596-8 r., 600, 602-3, 604 I., 607, 608

"Abd al-'Aziz b. al-Hadjadj 582 n.
"Abd al-Malik b. Marwan, caliph 503,

n., 609 r., 612 r., 613, 614 n.,
615 r., 616, 618 r., 619, 622 n.

695

i General Index

"Abdallah al-Battal 56111., 571
"Abdallah b. 'Abd al-Malik 519
‘Abdallah b. 'All 59011., 607, 608 n.
"Abdallah b. Qais 493 n., 495
"Abdallah b. al-Zubair 502-3,508-9
Abdelas
see also ‘Abdallah 493
Abdelas, br. of caliph Abu-l-'Abbas b.
Muhammad, see al-Ma'mun
Abdelas Ibinalim, see 'Abdallah b. 'All
Abderachman, see 'Abd al-Rahman
Abibos
see also Habib 135
Abigas 311 n.
Abimelech, see 'Abd al-Malik
Ablabios 349
Aboubacharos, see Abu Bakr
Aboulabas, see Abu-1-'Abbas al-Saffah,
caliph
Aboulauar, see Abul-A'war
Aboumouslim, see Abu Muslim al-
Khurasani
Abraham (OT) 38 n., 102, 464
Abraham, priest 25811.
Abraim, see Ibrahim
Abrit 383 n.
Abu Bakr, caliph 464-5, 466 r., 467-8
Abu Muslim al-Khurasani 587-8, 592
Abu-l-'Abbas b. Muhammad, caliph
589, 590 n., 591 r., 592, 593 r.
Abu-l-'Abbas al-Saffah, caliph 588, 589
n.
Abtid-Ward 59011.
Abul-A'war 482
Abydos 203-4, 269 n., 289, 428, 508,
545/ 559/ 580, 601, 653-4, 668
Acacian schism 204 n., 220n., 242 n.
Achaea 100
Achelos, see Anchialos
Achillas, bp. of Alex. 22 r.
Achilles, hero 287
Achilleus 7 n., 8-10
Acholios, assassin 230
Acholios, bp. of Thessalonica 103
Actus Silvestii 32 n.
Adad 323
Adaktos gn.
Adam (OT) lii, Ixvii, 1, 209, 572
Adana 444, 446 n.
Adapazan 344 n.
Adarmahan 365-6
Adata 446 n., 595 n., 628 n.
Addaios 356 n., 361 n.
Adelgis 619, 620 n., 638
Adelphios 98
Adeodatus, pope 487 n.
Adeser, see Ardasir III

Adoulios 320

Adraigan 447

Adramytion 535

Adramyton, see Hadrometum

AdrianlI, pope Ixxi, 614 n., 615 r., 616 r.,
618-20 r., 622-41., 626 r., 628 r.,
630 £., 632 r., 634-5, 636-8 r., 640 r.,
642 1., 644-6 r., 648-9, 650 n.

Adrianople Ivii, Ixxxix, 34 n., 101 n.,
160 n., 376, 410, 642 n., 647 n., 663,
681 n., 682-3, 685-6, 687-88 n.

Adrianoupolis 489

Adriatic Sea 87

Aegean Sea xlvii

Aelianus, PP 199, 200 n.

Aelianus, rebel 9

Aelius Hadrian, see Hadrian

Aeithalas 41

Aemilianus 81

Aetios, general 146-7, 161,166, 167 n.

Aetios, piotospathaiios lvi, 641, 650-5,
658 n., 673

Aetios, teacher of Eunomios 90

Africa xcii, xciv, 9, 10, 147, 148 n.,
158 n., 161, 164 n., 167, 169, 184,
256 n., 286, 307 n., 309 n., 312 n.,
317-18 n,, 350, 352 N., 384, 424,
426-7, 461-2, 477-8, 491, 516, 546,
557) 571/ 588, 597, 618, 628, 680,
681 n., 683

Africa Proconsularis 158 n., 307 n.,
310 n.

Africans 44, 180, 477-8

Africanus, Julius xliii(n), liv(n)

Afyon Karahisar 541 n.

Agallianos 560, 561 n.

Agapetos, pope 314 n., 315

Agapios, of Membidj 1xxxii-lxxxiv, 338
n., 490 n.

Agathias lxix-Ixx, 332 n., 335 n., 343 n.,
547 0.

Agathon, deacon 532 n., 534 n.

Agathon, pope 462

Agathon, prefect 356-7

Agelon, see Agilo

agens in rebus 138

Agilo 87, 88 n.

Agnellus 351 n.

Agrikolaos, 624

Agros, monastery, see Megas Agros

Ahab (OT) 100, 607, 672-3

Aidesios 37

Aigai 37, 40n.

"Ain Gera (Anjar) 526 n., 581-2 n.

Aistulf 556, 557 n.

Aitherios 345, 346 n., 349, 356, 358 n.,
361 n.

696

ij General Index

Ajax, tomb of 37
Ajnadain 46911.
Akakian schism, se Acacian schism
Akakios, bp. of Ant. 168 n.
Akakios, bp. of Beroia 112
Akakios, bp. of Caesarea 56, 57 n., 69,
84, 86, 99, 105
Akakios, bp. of CP 183 r., 185-7 6.,
188-9, 190 n., 191 1r., 193-4 r., I9S,
197, 198 n., 199 r., 200, 201 r.,
202-5,'°8, 131
Akakios, commander of Armenians 304
Akakios, mag. mil 247, 248 n.
Akakios, martyr 123
Akakios, s. of Archelaos 366n.
Akameros, see Akamir
Akamir 651, 652 n.
Akampsis, r. 336 n.
Ta Akedouktou (Thrace) 684
Akepsimas 41
Akoimetoi, see Sleepless Ones
Akoum 317
Akroinos 540, 571
Akys 380
Alamans 9-10
Alamoundaros (al-Mundhir Lakhmid)
240-1, 258 n., 270-1, 272-4 n.
Alania 542-3, 547 n.
Alans 146, 362, 363 n., 542-3
Alaric 117, 126, 146
Albania (Caucasia) 395, 440-1, 507
Aleppo
see also Beroia (Syria) 597 n.
Alexander, bp. of Alex. 22-9 r., 33 r.
Alexander, bp. of CP Ixxii, 29-30 r., 33 r.,
35) 37) 411, 44-91, 52,54 57-6" 8.
Alexander, bp. of Diospolis 269
Alexander, bp. of Jer. Ixxiii, 514 n.
Alexander, comes 275
Alexander, martyr 404, 405 n.
Alexander, rebel 414
Alexander Severus, emperor Ixix
Alexander the Monk Ixxvi-Ixxviii, xcii,
14n, 16 n., 21n, 34 n.
Alexandria (Egypt) Ixxviii-lxxix, xcix,
1, 2, 8, 10, 29-30, 36, 49-51, 53 N.,
55 n., 56, 60, 72, 78, 80 n., 81, 86-7,
90, 93-4, 100, 109, III, 113 n.,
114-15, 127, 132--3, 144, 149, 154,
164, 169-70, 171 N., 176, 179, 181,
188, 197, 200, 202, 206, 210, 232,
239, 245, 321, 322 n., 323, 332 n.,
354-6, 360-2, 419, 425 N., 427, 432,
448 n., 451, 463 n., 470, 535, 586,
591, 634
Bath of Trajan 169
Baths of Diocletian 164

Healing bath 179
Health bath 179
Heptabizos bath 177
Kantharos bath 149
Kynegion ioo, 150
Paul the Leper, monastery of 176
St John, church 247
St John, sanctuary 177
St Mark, church 247
Stoicheion 169
Tetrastoon 177
Alexandria, bp. of Ixiii, Ixvii-Ixviii,
Ixxiii-Ixxiv, 19, 60, 169, 173, 200,
211 n., 247, 250, 357 n., 578 n., 635
Alexandrian chronicle/source
Ixviii-Ixxx, 30 n., 101 n, 107 n.,
132 n., 144n., 149 n., 181 n., 242 n.
Alexandrian era lxiv
Alexandrians 56, 60, 62, 168, 188, 200,
209, 232, 247, 572
Alexandrina (Iraq) 389
Alexios Mousoulem 640-4
Alfadal Badinar 616
Algiers 309 n.
‘All 483, 485, 486 n., 587 n., 608 n.
‘All b. 'Isa 661 n.
Ali 444 n.
Alidos 516
Alim 587-8, 592
Allectus ion.
Alphias 288
Alps 112
Aluank' 441 n.
Alypios 81, 83 n.
Alypios, dux, see Olympios
Amalafrida 287, 307 n.
Amalasuntha 289
Amalek(OT) 462
Amalekites 463 n.
Amandus 9
Amanites 464
Amantius, mag. mil.
Amantius, praepositus
Amanus, Mt. 496 n.
Amaseia 29 n., 193 N., 333, 353, 53%,
675 n.
Amastris 523, 662
Amatas 290-1
Ambros I'Amr) 353
Ambrose 43 n., 94, 95 N., 111
Amer
see also Gamer 560
Amer(gous), see Hoamer
Amida 34, 59, 223-5,'°7n., 228, 231 n.,
256 n, 377, 444, 458 n.
al-Amin caliph Ixxi, 664 r., 665, 666 n.,
667 r., 671 r., 677 r., 680

337, 338 n.
248, 250, 252 n.

697

i General Index

Amir al-Umara 50011.
‘Amir b. Dubara 587, 588 n.
Amitos, see Avitus
Ammadios, see Amuda
Ammoudia, see Amuda
Amnesia 489

Amnia 637, 638 n.

Amorion 487 n., 49°/ 538-40, 575, fay
642, 646

Amos, bp. of fer. 394-6 r., 398-9 r.,
401-3 1.

Amphilochios 95, 98, 105

‘Ami 217 n.

‘Amr b. Sa'id al-Ashdak 507
Amroulka'is 217 n.

Amuda 228, 229 n., 271
Anaballianos, see Hannibalianus
Anadolu Kavagi 602 n.

Ananias (NT) 678
Anaplous (Bosporus) 121,177
Archangel at Anaplous, church 37

Anastasia, St 170, 171 n.

Anastasia, d. of Valens 88

Anastasia, w. of Constanine IV 513, 529

Anastasia, w. of Pompeius 242 n.

Anastasia, w. of Tiberius II 370, 395

Anastasian Wall, see Long Walls

Anastasii, disciples of St Maximus 484,
491

Anastasios, bp. 598

Anastasios I, bp. of Ant. 173

Anastasios II, bp. of Ant. Ixxiii, 344-6 r.,
349 T., 353 T., 355-8 1, 359, 369 F.,
398-9 r., 401-3 1.

Anastasios III, bp. ofAnt. 406r., 409 r.,
418 r., 420-11., 423-41., 425, 427 n.

Anastasios, bp. of CP 505, 564-5, 566n.,
567 ©, 569 r., 571-2 1, 5741, 575-6,
578, 579 'V 581, 583-5 ©, 5877.
589, 590 r., 591, 637

Anastasios, bp. ofJer. 191 r., 193-5 "-,
197-9 I., 201-2 T., 203 N., 205 r., 208
r., 210-11 1., 213 1.

Anastasios, CSL 426

Anastasios, dux 240, 242 n.

Anastasios I, emperor Ixxvi, Ixxxi, xciv,
xcix, 107 N., 206, 207 n., 208-11,
213 T., 214-16, 217 N., 219 r., 220-1,
222 N., 223, 224 N., 225-6, 227 6,
228-35, 238-40, 241 n., 242-5,
246 n., 247-9; *S° ™< 253, n.,
267, 277, 280 n., 284 n., 287, 309 n.,
315 N., 324 N., 343 N., 351 N., 352 N.,
574 n.

Anastasios II, emperor 533-6, 537 n.,

538, 544-5, 547-8 n., 552, 553 n.
Anastasios, mag. off. 346 n.

Anastasios I, pope 114 r.

Anastasios n, pope 216-18 r., 219 r.,
220

Anastasios, presbyter 138

Anastasios Sinaites Ixxxvii

Anastasioupolis (Dara) 231

Anastasioupolis (Thrace) 347

Anastasius Bibliothecarius xliii, lxii,
Ixiii, xcvi-xcvii, xcix, 172 n., 207 n.,
209 N., 214n., 216Nn., 269 n., 309 n.,
392 N., 415 N., 416N., 505 n., 517 n.,
545 n., 548 n., 557 n., 618 n.,
622-3 "-, 641 "-, 662 n., 667 n.,
670 n., 675-6 n., 680 n., 687 n.

Anatolics, theme 491-2, 514, 536, 538,
541 0, 544, 553 0, 575, 578, 608,
615, 623, 637, 654, 657, 660n., 673,
680, 684-5

Anatolios, bp. of CP 158 r., 160 r.,
163-4"-, 166 '-, }68 r., 169-70

Anatolios, _ illustrissimus 115

Anatolios, mag. mil. 136

Anavarza 346 n.

Anazarbos 256 n., 262, 345, 521 n.,
661 n.

Anchialos 243, 375, 380, 391-2,, 525,
599, 605% 606 n., 631, 679

Ancyra 39n., 84, 246n., 434, 435 n.,
622 n., 626n., 649 n., 651 n., 660-1

Andas 324 n.

Andragathios 102, ro6

Andrasos 660-1

Andrew, apostle Ixxii, 83 n., 260-1 n.,
331

Andrew, bp. 57

Andrew, bp. of Crete 505
Andrew, bp. of Theodosioupolis 206
Andrew, cubicularius 250
Andrew, cubicularius 488-91
Andrew, general 384 n.

Andrew, impresario 324-5
Andrew, PU 350

Andrew, s. of Troilos 491
Andrew, spatharios 577

Andrew Kalybites 598

Andrew Skombros 423
Andronikos, bp. of Alex, Ixxv(n)
Andronikos, spatharios 644
Andzevatsi family 623 n.
Anemourion 616 n.

Anepsich, see Apsich

Anianos, bp. of Ant. 89 r., 91-21.
Anicia Juliana 226 n., 239, 242 n.
Anna, d. of Leo III 545, 573, 582 n.
Annianus liv, lxiv

Anousan 645

Ansilas, 157

698

ij General Index

Antai 410, 415 n.
Antaios xciv, 310 n.
Antalas 301-6
Anthemios, emperor
185 n., 195
Anthemios, suburb of (Bosporus) 545
Anthimios, see Anthemios
Anthimos, abbot 338

Anthimos, bp. of CP 31s

Anthimos, bp. of Nicomedia 9 n., 19,
21 n.

178, 181 n., 183-4,

Anthimos, composer 177, 178 n.
Anthimos, s. of Constantine V 613 n.,
621, 643
Anthousa 611 n.
Antichrist 170, 551, 564, 577
Antigoni, island 681 n.
Antikantharos (Alex.) 232
Antilebanon, 580
Antioch (Isauria) 213, 214 n.
Antioch (Pisidia) 533
Antioch (Syria) Ixxxii, 1, 2 n., 15 n., 19,
35, 45, 48-9, 51, 60, 64, 65 n., 67,
71, 76, 79, 81-2, 84, 86, 91 n., 92-3,
96, 97 n., 100, 104-6, no, lis,
129 n., 138, 141, 170, 173 n., 176,
177 n., 180 n., 188, 193, 196-7,
198 n., 199, 200 N., 205-6, 210, 230,
234, 238 n., 250, 253, 256 n., 263,
270, 272 n., 274, 317, 345, 353, 365,
382, 425, 427 n., 428, 463 n., 473,
507, 511 n., 588, 591, 603, 634
Great Church 107 n.
St Stephen, martyrium 263
Taurian Gate 106, 107 n.
Tripylon 84
Antioch, bp. of lxiii, lxvii-Ixviii,

Ixxiii-Ixxiv, 163, 207 n., 577, 583,

594 "v 635
Antiochenes 47, 82,197, 592
Antiochiane 219 n.
Antiochos, chaitophylax 532
Antiochos, stiategos 605
Antiochos the Persian 123-4, 127, 151
Antipatris 590
Anti-Taurus Mtns.
Antlas 277, 282 n.
Antonina 288, 355 n.
Antonioupolis 59
Antony, bp. of CP 505
Antony, domesticus 610, 629
Antony, hermit 97 n.
Apameia no, 317, 428, 487, 600
Apeiria, see Appiareia
Aphaka, 37, 40 n.
Aphousia 680
Aphraates, holy man 96

521 n.

Aphraates, Persian general 385
Aphrodision 326

Aphrodite, goddess 37, 41
aphthartodocetism 251 n., 354 n.
Apion, see Appion

apokiisiaiios 218, 333, 353, 359
Apolinarios, bp. of Alex. 330r., 332T.,
333, 334-9 |b 341 1, 344-6 ©, 349 ©,
353 I, 355-6 F., 357 n.

Apolinarios, general 295
Apollinarios, bp. of Laodikeia 96, 97 n.,
101-2

Apollinarios, the Syrian 50, 78, 97 n.

Apollo, god 46n., 79

Apollonia ad Rhyndacum 524 n., 640 n.

Apollonias 523, 639

Apolyont 524n.

Appiareia 381, 383 n.

Appion 226-7, 229n., 242n., 250, 252 n.

Apros 688 n.

Apsech 410

Apsich 377

Apsilians 542, 544

Apsimaros, see Tiberius III Apsimaros

Aqsa mosque (Jer.) 476 n.

Aquileia 59 n., 106 n., 164

Aquilinus 158 n.

Arabia, d. of Justin II 365 n.

Arabia, province 223, 271, 332, 468,
469, 587 n., 590

Arabia, region 578 n., 590

Arabia Felix 577

Arabissos 458 n., 489

Arabs lii, lxi, lxxxiv, 217, 445, 466-8,

470, 473, 474 N., 479, 481 n., 483-6,
489-90, 494, 496, 502, 506, 509-12,
516, 518-20, 522, 526-7, 532, 534,
539, 545-6, 548 n., 550, 553 n.,
554-5, 557, 558 n., 560-1, 562 n.,
563, 565 n., 568, 573, 575-7; 580,
583-4, 586 n., 588-9, 593-4, 596-7,
602, 607, 615-17, 623-5, 627-30,
634-6, 639, 642, 644-6, 648, 660,
662-3, 687 n.

Arados 478-9

Aram 454

Aras, r. 388n.

Araxes, r. 385

Arbela 390 n.

Arbil 455 n.
Arbogastes 109, 112
Arcadiaci 115, 343 n.
Arcar 383 n.

Archaiopolis 543
Archangel, church of the ((Jengelkoy)

358
Archelaos, general 290

699

General Index

Archelaos, mag. mil. 366

Ardabourios, f. of Aspar 132, 134, 152,
160-1, 171 n., 180, 183, 225

Ardagastos 376, 394

Ardamenes, see Adarmahan

Ardasir I, king lxix

Ardasir Il, king 93-4 1r., 95 n., 98 r.

Ardasir III, king Ixviii, 458r.,459,460n.

Areadne T7T, 185-7, ‘9’, '95-6, 199,
208, 209 n., 236, 240, 246

Areobindos, f. of Dagalaiphos 157, 159,
225

Areobindos, general under Justinian
302-6, 312 n.

Areobindos, s. of Dagalaiphos 225-8,
242 n., 402 n.

Ares, god 79, 82

Arethas (Ghassanid) 265 n., 353

Arethas (Himyarite) 361-2, 363 n.

Arethas (Kindite) 217, 223, 353 n.

Arethas, martyr 258

Arethousa 77

Arethousa, m. of John Chrysostom ri5

Argabastes, see Arbogastes

Argagisklos, see Arnegisklos

Arhat 193 n.

Arianism 70, 181, 218

Arians 30-r, 40N., 44, 45 N., 53 1.,
54-6, 62, 68-73, 77, 90, 92-3, 96,
99-101, 103, 106, 161, 180, 209,
218, 233, 259, 260 n., 268-9 "-, “86

Arintheos, 1%7

Aristoboulos 382

Arius 19, 21 n., 29-30, 35-6, 4on.,
49-52, 53 N., 60, 94, 103, 105, 292,
296

Arkadia, sis. of Theodosios II 125

Arkadios, emperor Ixiv, 88, ri3, ir4r.,
115-18, 119 n., 120, 121-2 1., 123,
125, 146, 286, 307 n., 325 n.

Arkadios, PP 206

Arkadioupolis 118, 159, 160 n., 342,
343 N., 619

Armatus, see Harmatios

Armenarich 183, 184 n., 185, 186 n.

Armenia 40N., 57 N., 122, 226, 245,
266, 268 n., 271, 318, 319 n., 371-2,
375, 381, 384 n., 389, 425, 432 n.,
436-8, 440 n., 441, 458 n., 480-1,
506-7, 512, 519-20, 563, 569, 570
n., 580, 582 n., 589 n., 600

Armenial! 601 n.

Armeniall 488 n., 5 ri n.

ArmenialV 506, 514, 519, 532, 590 N.,
614

Armeniac theme 453, 456n., 488, 536,
545/ 578, 596, 615, 623, 625, 627,

637, 640-2, 643 n., 644, 672, 684

Armenians 38, 302-3, 304, 362, 363-4",
451, S*°, 543-4, 563, 578, 590, 594,
644

Armutlu 649 n.

Arnegisklos 159

Arourites, see Harurites

Arsaber Iviii, 664

Arsacids 302, 304

Arsakios, bp. of CP 122, 123 r.

Arsenios 51, 53 n.

Arsenios, monk 118, 119 n.

Artabanes 302-6

Artabasdos, curopalates 536, 545, 560,
564, 573, 575, 576 N., 578, 580-1,
582 n.

Artabasdos, domesticus 580

Artabasdos, general, see Artavazd
Mamikonian

Artake, Holy Mother of God, church of
428

Artanas, r. 599

Artaserios 304-5

Artavazd Mamikonian 623

Artaxer, see Ardasir

Artemios, dux 81, 83 n.

Artemios, emperor, see Anastasios II

Arwad 495 nf

Arzamon (Arxamoun), r.
420, 42r n.

Arzanene 85 n., 134, 377, 379 "-, 446 n.
Arzar-Palanca 160 n.

Asad(Asados) 464,465 n.

Asan, see Hasan; Hassan

Ascension, feast 214 n.

Asemus 400 n.

Asia, continent 117, 404, 420, 429, 435

Asia, province 94, 118, 151, 164 n., 230,
540, 545, 569, 571, 608, 625, 629

AsiaMinor Ixxxvii, 18 n., 425 n., 438 n.,
512 n., 524 n., 559, 602 n., 663 n.,
668, 669 n.

Asiatic themata 627, 635, 646, 654,
657, 659 n., 672

Askalon 77

Askel 35r

Asklepiodotos, ex-prefect 274

Asklepiodotos, PP 9g, 10 n.

Asklepios, god xciv, 37

Asklepios, king 296

Asouades 225

aspabadh 229 n., 255 n.

Aspabadh Pahlav 256 n.

Aspad-Gusnasp 453, 456n., 454

Aspar 132, 147, 152, 159-61, 170, 171 n.,

172, 180-3, 184 n., 193, 225

Asparouch 498

Ixiii, 377, 379,

700

ij General Index

Aspebedes 254, 255 n.

Aspetios 228

Assas 521

Assumption, feast 388 n.

Assyria 336 n.

Assyrians |xxxiv-Ixxxvi, 54, 61

Asterios, 264

Astulphos, see Aistulf

Atalarich 289, 295

Ataleia, Gulf of 639

Atel, r. 497

Ateous 563

Athanarich 99

Athanasia 219 n.

Athanasios, a secietis 580

Athanasios, bp. of Alex. 21 n., 37, 40 n.,
44,45N., 47!., 49-52, 53 N., 54, 55N.,
56/ 57-9 r., 60, 61 r., 62, 64-5, 67,
68-70 ©., 71-3, 74N., 75 I. 77-8,
80 n., 83 n., 84, 8 r., 86, 87-9 r., 90,
91-2 T., 93

Athanasios, bp. of Ant. 460-1

Athanasios, cs 427 n.

Athanasios, deacon 165

Athanasios, PP 303-5

Athanasios, presbyter 154

Athanasios, silentiarius 575

Athanasios Kelites, bp. of Alex. 206,

208 ©r., 210-11 1., 213 r., 215 r., 216
Athaulf 118 n., 126 n.
Athenais, see Eudokia
Athenodoros 211, 214-15
Athens 69, 613, 650, 658 n.
Athyras 159, 688 n.
Athyras, Gulf of 416 n.
Atlantic Ocean 392 n.
Atroa 641
Attalos 574 n.
Attikos, bp. of CP 1241., 125, 126-9*-,
130-1, 132-3 '., 134-5 ©, 137 n.
Attila 159, 160 n., 161, 162 n., 164, 166,
201

Audios 356

Augarus 82

Augusta/ae, title 4.0u., 116, 155, 165,
176, 180, 187, 197-8, 249, 260, 266,
270, 279-80, 285, 296, 313, 327,
357, 369-70, 391, 395, 406-7, 413,
428-30, 513, 551, 552 N., 629, 639,
645, 674, 677, 683-4

augustalis 132, 150, 171 N., 247, 248 n.,
360, 361 n., 419 n., 470

Augustus, emperor Ixxii(n)

Augustus/i, title 17, 18n., 20n., 25-6n.,

35, 56, 67, 72, 74n., 85, 86n., 100,

106, 108 n., 116, 119 n., 126 n., 133

n., 277, 280, 370 n., 392. n., 574 n.

Aurasion, Mt. 287, 299-300, 311 n.

Aurelia 161

Aurelian, consul 230n.

Aurelian, emperor lxx

Autenti 310 n.

Automatists 599

Auxentius 94

Avars 146, 339, 340 n., 365, 366-7 n.,
376 n., 380-1, 383 n., 392-3 n., 394,
395 n., 400 n., 401, 402 n., 405 n.,
407, 408 N., 414, 415 N., 429, 433-5,
446-7, 496, 498-9, 608

Aventine Hill (Rome) 634 n.

Avitus, emperor 167-8

Avroleva 646

Avsaadasi 681 n.

Awdina 490 n.

Axoum 273 n.

Axoumites 323, 324n.

Ayasmaderesi 343 n.

Azar 520

Azerbaijan 388 n., 448 n., 507 n.
Azidos, see Yazid

Baalbek
see also Helioupolis 584 n.
Baanes, general 449, 468, 469 n., 470
Baanes Heptadaimon 519
Babylas, St 79,105
Babylon (Egypt) 471 n.
Babylonia 378
Babylonians (Persians) 372
Bacurius 38, gon.
BacuriuslI] 313 n.
Badicharimos 222-3
Badouarios, cuiopalates 364
Badou|a)rios, general 267, 316
Baghdad 680
Bahira 466 n.
Bahurasir 456 n.
bajulus 141, 417 n., 639, 640 n., 641
Bakcharos, see al-Bakhtari b. al-Hassan
Bakchos 301, 341
al-Bakhtari b. al-Hassan 538, 541 n.
BakirkSy (Hebdomon) 340 n.
Bakkourios, see Bacurius
Bakr 217 n.
Baktangios 581
Balaklava 522 n.
Balas 288
Balgitzis 520-1
Balis 483 n.
Balkan Mtns. 676 n.
Balkeis, see Bonkeis
Banakas 624-5
Bandirmaxlv(n)
Bane, lake 629

701

i General Index

Barada, r. 468, 469 n.

Baradotos 172

Baram, see Vahram

Barasbakourios 521, 529

Barazruz (Barasroth) 451,45511.

Barbalissos 483

barbarians 12, 33, 34n., 100, 258 n.,
3ro n., 378, 380-2, 383 n., 385-6,
389, 391, 393-5, 400, 402-4, 407,
409-11, 436-7, 442-3, 445

Barbas 233

Bardan, r. 469 n.

Bardanes, emperor, see Philippikos

Bardanes, patrician 605

Bardanes, strategos 651

Bardanes Tourkos 657,659, 671

Bardanesios, see Barada

Bardanios, domestic of the Schools 647

Bardanios Anemas 663

Bardas, patrician 643

Bardas, strategos 615,627

Bargou 310 n.

Baristerotzes 623

Barlaam 198

al-Barmaki 629 n.

Barnoukios 516

Barsamouses, see Vahram-Arsusa

Barses 95

Barza 456 n.

Barzan 453, 457 n.

Basil, bp. of Ant. 166r., 168 n.

Basil I, emperor xliii

Basil of Edessa 226, 227 n., 228

Basil the Great, bp. 90 n., 93-4, 98, 233

Basil Onomagoulos 549

Basileides 285 n.

Basileus, bp. 28

Basiliskos, s. of Harmatios 191-2

Basiliskos, usurper 176, 177,n., 180-3,

Ion a

184 n., 186-9, 9° -, 9 ~2, 193 n.,
194, 288

Basle xcvi

Basra (Basrason, Basrathon] 597, 600,
601 n.

Bassa 176

Bassianos 177, 178 n.

Batal, see ‘Abdallah al-Battal

Batbaian 498

Batman, r. 375 n., 446n.

Batnai 497

Battle of the Nobles 571 n.

Baugain 299

Bavarians 402 n.,

Bay of Burgas 681 n.

BayofVolos 652 n.

Bdellas, see Bleda

‘Beard-hater' 82

Bebdarch 451
Beilan 238 n.

Beioudes 381, 384 a
Beit-Jebrin 112 n.
Beklal 451

Beled-ruz 455 n.
Belgrade 74 n., 148 n., 393 n., 408 n.
Belisarius xciii-xciv, 147 n., 229 n., 266,
268 n., 270-1, 274, 276 n., 280,
286-99, 3°4, 309-11 n., 317-18 n.,
319-20, 321 N., 332, 336N., 341,
343 N., 350-1, 353, 355, 365 N.
Benedict I, pope Ixxi, 369 n., 360-1 r.,
364-5 I.
Benghazi 312 n.
Benjamin, bp. of Alex, Ixxv(n), 471 n.
Benjamin, Jew 458
Berbers 571 n.
Beregaba 499, 596
Bergula 343 n.
Beroia (Syria) 272 n., 318 n., 595
Beroia (Thrace) 67,631,679
Berytos 65, 332
Berzilia 498
Berzitia 617
Besbikos xlv(n)
Beser (Blsr) 555, 556 N., 559, 575, 605,
n.
Beser 570 n.
Besiktaf (Bosporus) 537 n.
Beskoprii 344 n.
Bessarabia 269 n.
Bessas 226n., 336 n.
Bessi 225, 226 n.
Bestam 386
Beste 301
BethHuzaye 388 n.
Bethlehem xliii(n), 42, 43 n., 459 n.,
666 n.
Basilica of the Nativity 459 n.
Shepherds, church of the 459 n.
Betogabri 112 n.
Beylerbey (Bosporus) 602 n.
Bey§ehir 533 n.
Bezabde 75, 76 n.
Bible Ixi
Bidez, J. Ixxx
Bigas 299
Bilios, see Lilios
Bindoes 386-7
Bithrapsa 217

Bithynia xlvi, li, xcviii, 33, 35, 44 n.,
73, 84, 85 n., Ol n., 121 n., 191,
360 n., 508 n., 512 n., 560, 572, 636,
647 n., 657, 662 n., 664

Bizae 388 n.

Bizye 90, 484 n., 604 n.

702

i General Index

Black Mountain [Amanus) 496
Black Sea lviii, 159, 194, 255 n., 258 n.,
336 n., 383 n., 392 N., 405 n., 497-9,

599-600, 661
Biases, see Valas
Bleda 159, 160 n.
Blockley, R. C. 15m.
Bluefaction/Blues 253,278-80,282-3"-,

347, 358, 37° N., 402 n., 412-14,
416 n., 513, 5i4n.
Boa(rex) 266, 268 n., 269 n.
Boazanes 259
Bone 309n.

Boniface, general 146-7, 148 n., 292

Boniface I, pope 131 n., 132-3 Fr.

Boniface II, pope 275 r., 276n.

Boniface IV, pope Ixxi

Bonkeis 402

Bononia 380

Bonosos, comes Orientis 425,4170.

Bonosos, general 228, 229 n.

Bonosos, mag. mil, see Bonus

Bonosos, skribon 410, 415 n.

Bonus 435, 438 n.

de Boor, C. v, xi, Ixxiii, lxxxix, xev-
xcvli, 18 n., 28n., 30n., 60n., 106 n.,
171 n., 189 n.-g0 n., 207 n., 209 n.,
244n., 260 n., 281-2 n., 284 n.,
309-10 N., 317 N., 334 N., 344 0.,
349 n., 357 n., 369 n., 383 n., 396 n.,

402 n., 448 n., 469 n., 471 n., 497 2.,
562 n., 582 n., 604 n., 616 n., 622 n.,
660 n., 667 n., 670 n.

Borane Ixviii, 459, 460 n.

Bordj Messaoud 312 n.

Bosphoros (Crimea) 267, 520, 527,
fcian.

Bosporus lviii, 40 n., 178n., 242 n., 244n.,
358 n., 396 n., 447 n., 513, 532,
537 n., 548 n., 598, 601, 602 n., 617,
651 n., 654 n., 662 n., 666

Bostanci (nr. CP) 548 n.

Bostra 78, 468, 469 n., 579 n.

Botrys 332

Boukania 507

Boule 311 n.

Bounousos, see Rabi’ b. Yunus

Bourgaon 310n.

Bourkos 184, 185 n.

Bourniche 629

Bousas 381

Bousiris 7 n., 307 Nn.

Bousour, see Busr b. Abl Artat

Bouzes 319

brachialion 493

Bregitio 97 n.

Brescia 351 n.

Bretanion, see Vetranio

Brison 120

Britain 9, 14 n., 17, 18 n., 19, 54, 146,
147 n.

Brooks, E. W. Ixxxii, Ixxxiv, 57n., i84n.,
241 n.

Bryas 546, 548 n.

bucellaiii, bodyguards 3 51 n.

Bucellarii, theme 608, 615, 623, 629,
644

Bug, r. 500 n.

Bukha 507 n.

Bukhtishu' Djurdjis Ab Djibra'il 603 n.

Bulgaria (see also Great Bulgaria) lix,
309 n., 326 n., 392 n., 393 n., 395 n.,
400 n., 409 n., 508, 521, 553 n., 596,
599-600, 603, 616-18, 643, 646,
658 n., 667 n., 672-3, 676 n., 677,
681, 683, 687 n.

Bulgaria! 498

Bulgarians Ix, xcv, 530 n., 532, 533 N.,
542, 549 N., 552., 593, 594 N., 599,
605, 617, 619, 643, 663, 665, 672,
676 n., 679, 681-2, 684, 685

Bulgars 222, 243, 317-18, 399, 400 n.,
401, 446,497-9, 500 n., 507-8,
521-2, 525, 618

Burco, see Bourkos

Burgari 296

Burgarion 296

Burgas 501 n.

Burgaz adasi (Antigoni) 681 n.

Bury, J. B. Ixvi, 343 n.

Busr b. Abi Artat 479, 480 n., 486 n.,
487-8, 492

Butheric III n.

Biiyiik (Jekmece (Athyras) 160 n.,
416 n.

Biiyiik Kanstiran 343 n., 393 n., 405 n.

Biiyiikada (Prinkipos) xlv(n)

Byblos 332

Byzacena (Byzakion) 296, 301-3, 305-6,
310 n., 461

Byzantine era lIxiv

Byzantines 100, 145, 151, 187 n., 253,

255 n., 381, 676 n.

Byzantios 673

Byzantium xciv, 36-8, 52, 73, 117, 147,
160, 183, 185 n., 186, 188, 194-5,
201, 202 N., 208, 210, 215, 226-7,
230, 233, 243, 247, 249, 254, 257,
259, 261 N., 294-6, 299, 302-4, 306,
315, 321-2, 326, 337, 339, 353, 378,
381-2, 385, 391, 394, 396-7, 404,
408, 410, 419-20, 438, 444, 450,
452, 486, 490, 551 n., 560, 564,
566 n., 584, 629 n.

703

i General Index

Cadiz 295

Caesar, title 3, 12, 17, 18 n., 19, 25 n.,
31 N., 34, 40 n., 67, 69, 73, 132,
133 n., 181, 183, 191-2, 352 n.,
367-70, 371 N., 373, 391, 392 n.,
398, 404, 433, 445, 524 M., 612,
620 n., 621, 627, 643

Caesarea (Cappadocia) 58, 77, 93, 98,
195 N., 429, 458, 475 n., 480, 482,
511 n., 559, 561 n., 567 n., 626 n.

Caesarea (Mauretania) 301, 311 n.

Caesarea (Palestine) 17, 19, 51, 53 n.,

82, 242 n., 337, 462, 467, 475

Caesarea Philippi 79

Caesarius xcix, 171, 172 n.

Calabria 549, 568, 573, 585

caliph, title Ixiii, Ixviii, 497, 503 n.,
507 n., 516, 541 N., 551 N., 556, 559,
572, 597,614 n., 664n., 681 n., 686n.

Calvary 42, 136

Cameron, A.D. E. 281 n.

Campania 17 n., 187 n.

candidatus/i 605

Candlemas 409 n.

Qankin (Gangra) 163 n.

Canon of Jacob of Nisibis Ixviii, Ixxv,
Ixxxv, Ixxxvii

Capitolinus 81, 83 n.

Cappadocia 58, 92, 155, 156 n., 192,
193 N., 195, 230 N., 245, 255 N., 425,
429, 458 n., 488 n., 490N., 517, 539,
567, 571, 594,622 n., 650,653,661 n.,
675 n.

Cappadocians 311 n., 539, 684

Caput Vada 308 n.

Carausius 9, lon.

Caria 235

Carinus 264, 265 n.

Carloman 557, 558 n.

Carnuntum 25 n.

Carossa 88

Carthage 147 n., 180, 286, 289-99, 3°',
3°3, 305-6, 307-12 n., 516

Carthaginians 291, 294, 298

Caspian Gates 245, 255 n., 364n., 447,
567, 579, 600, 602

Caspian Sea 255 n., 372, 373 n., 388 n.

castaldi 496

Catalaunian Plains, battle

Cataracts (Danube) 410

Caucasus Mtns. 255 n., 258n., 364 n.,
388 n., 441 n., 481, 497, 542, 547 n.

Celer (Celar) 227-8, 236, 237 n.

Cellas Vatari 311 n.

Celts 37

Cemele (Semalouos) 626 n.

VJengelkoy (Bosporus) 358 n., 602 n.

162 n.

ceiullarii 670 n.

Ceuta 309 n.

Chadiga, see Khadij'a

Chagan (Arab), see Hadjdjadj b. Yusuf

Chagan (of Avars) 375-6, 380-1, 391-4,
396-7, 398 N., 399-404, 406 n., 407,
408 n., 410, 420, 433-5, 496, 498

Chagan (of Chazars) 520, 523, 527-8,
563, 567, 589

Chaktaban, see Qahtabah b. Sabih

Chalbenoi, see Kalb

Chalcedon 87, 91 n., r2in., 136, 149n.,
153, 162 n., 176, 182 n., 183, 196,
236, 404, 414, 425, 431 N., 432-3,
447, 448 0., 450, 452-3, 456 n., 490,
548 n., 580, 598 n., 608 n., 629 n.,
657

StEuphemia, church of 117, 163, 347

Chalcedonians 461

Chalcedon in error for Chalkis 270

Chalkis 129 n., 199, 272 n., 318 n., 472,
590, 595

Chamaetha 449, 455 n.

Charanis, P. 216 n.

Charito 370, 373

Chariton, St lxxv

Charles (Charlemagne) 557, 558 n., 628,
629 n., 638, 649, 650 n., 653-4, 657,
678

Charles, s. of Charlemagne 650 n.

Charles Martel 558 n.

Charmosynos 150

Charokh, r. 258n.

Charourgites, see Harurites

Charsianon 567

chaitophylax lviii, 423, 532, 650, 664

Chazaria 527, 563, 589, 600

Chazars 446-7, 498, 520-1, 523, 528,
563 n., 567 n., 601 n.

Chelidonion, Cape 639

Cherchel 309 n.

Cheris 195 n.

Chersaion 179

Cherson xlviii(n), 173, 462, 485 n., 491,
520-1, 527-8, 602 n., 621

Chionites 57 n.

Chiton 341
Chorasan 512,587,661,665
Chorasanites 590 n.

"Chosen People’ 511
Chosroegetai 441

Chosroes, see Khusro

Choumeid, see Humaid b. Ma'yuf
Chrasis 290

Christ xlvi, lxi, 13, 19, 26-7, 35, 37-8,

41, 69, 79, 81, 96, 97 n., 128, 134,
141, 152, 164 n., 178, 206, 207 n.,

704

ij General Index

251 N., 270, 315 N., 321-2 ny 323,
339, 368, 410, 450, 460-2, 476, 493,
500, 505 n., S48, 584-5, 565, 576-7,
601, 612, 621, 624-5, 627, 632-3,
663, 665, 685

Christendom 673

Christianity 41, 99, 109, 133, 272 n.,
669 n.

Christianos 603

Christians Ixi, Ixxviii, 1, 9, 11, 13-15,
19-20, 24, 26-8, 38, 40n., 41, 43 n.,
54, 61, 65, 77-82, 84, 99, 109, 116,
127-8, 136-7, 208, 235, 241, 247,
258 n., 259-60, 267, 268 n., 271,
273 N., 274, 286-8, 323, 389, 425,
431, 439, 445, 455, 458, 464, 494,
497) 499, 524, 539, 55°, 577) 616,
624-5, 632-3, 635, 657, 667, 669 n.,
671-4, 680, 682-3, 685

Christmas 151, 155, 219 n., 420n.

Christopher, abbot xlviii

Christopher, s. of Constantine V 611 n.,

612, 643
Christopher, spatharios 605
Christopher, turmarch 528
Chrobatos 501 n.
Chronicle of Edessa Ixxxv
Chronicle of 750 1xxxiii-lxxxiv
Chronicle of 811 676 n.
Chronicon ad ad 846 pertinens 1xxxv
Chronicon anonymum ad _ v1234
pertinens 1xxxii-lxxxiii,425 n.,
469 n., 541 n.

Chronicon miscellaneum ad vd724
pertinens 1xxx, Ixxxiv-lxxxvi
Chronicon Paschale liii, 1Ixxviii-lxxx,
Ixxxiv-Ixxxvi, xc, 66 n., 103 n.,

258 n., 281 n., 283-4n., 374 n.,
414 n., 417-18 n., 422 n., 429n.,
431 N., 434 n., 448 n., 456-7 n.
Chronographeion syntomon Ixviii,
Ixxi-]xxiii
Chrysaorios 218
Chrysaphios Tzoumas
162 n.
Chrysocheres 644
Chrysopolis 33, 34 n., 396, 422, 491,
536, 540, 581, 601, 629, 650, 657,
666
Monastery of the Mother of God 396
Church, the 1, 20n., 27, 29, 30n., 48,
65, 71, 78, 84, 96, 118, 131, 144,
166-7, 176-7, 205, 208, 230, 233,
235, 327, 356, 413, 462, 530, 540,
552, 558, 564, 585, 591, 593, 598,
621, 631-3, 636-7, 661, 678
Cicek 568 n.

152-5,158,

Cicurov, I. S. vi

Cilicia 24, 4on., 48 n., 76, 107 n., 197,
213 N., 262, 345, 437, 493, 520, 527,
540, 642, 661 n.

Cilicians 288

Cillium 312 n.

Cimmerian Bosphorus 498, 521 n.

Circesium

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Full text of "The Chronicle Of Theophanes Confessor, Trans. By Cyril Mango (1997)"

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